Weddell Seals

For more than 50 years, the Weddell Seal Science project has been studying the world’s southernmost breeding mammal in its farthest-south location, McMurdo Sound, on the ice-bound edge of Antarctica. This book explores the life history of Weddell seals — surprisingly approachable big-eyed, smiling-faced creatures — and details the science of studying them: the techniques, the motivations, the objectives, and the results. Although science is at the heart of the book, this is also an adventure story about scientists living in a remote field camp, far out on the sea ice, surrounded by glaciers, where you can feel the ocean pulsing beneath your feet. Seals are all around, penguins walk through camp, the weather can be exquisitely beautiful or too severe to step outside. Simply being there would be a wonderful experience on its own but in this case the objective is science — a deeper understanding of our endlessly fascinating planet.