Weddell Seals

The only mammal that we see a lot of at McMurdo
is the Weddell Seal. I saw this guy and another
like him at Cape Evans. He seemed quite content
to just laze in the sun and sleep the day away.
Lots of times we'll see several dozen of them
lounging on the ice and they're known affectionately
as slugs. However, in the water they're very fast
and as many penguins find out the hard way, they're
very agile. Although we can see many of them from
McMurdo, it's sometimes hard to get this close to
them. This guy was only about 10 feet from me and
seemed to ignore me. If you get close enough that
they react to you, you're too close and need to
move away. I found this out in Kaikoura a couple
of years ago when I almost stepped on a New Zealand
Fur Seal. I got a good barking at! The Weddells
seem to be pretty relaxed though and didn't bark
once.