Après quelques jours sur base pour me
reposer après Guetteur et voir une jolie aurore australe, j'étais
de retour à Pointe Suzanne, en bonne compagnie (avec Suzanne, ou
Tiphaine, et Pascal, alias le manipeur parfait!) pour revoir nos
chers « puppies », les petits d'otaries. Le but était de
faire des tours régulièrement (2-3 fois par jour) afin de retrouver
le plus de petits marqués possibles pour les attraper, re-peser et
mesurer. Sur la quarantaine marquée au début, seulement 25 ont été
revus. En cette saison, il est en effet difficile de tous les trouver
car ils commencent à s'émanciper et passent pas mal de temps à
l'eau quand leur mère part refaire des réserves. De plus,
certains perdent leurs marques ou ont pu mourir entre temps. En tous
cas, à cet âge-là, ils sont très, très mignons et attachants, et
ça devient du sport pour les attraper (ben oui, ils vont quand même
pas se laisser faire, ce serait trop facile)... Mais je vais vous
mettre des photos, vous jugerez par vous mêmes! Nous avons aussi
profité de cette session pour équiper des femelles d'otaries
d'appareils enregistrant la quantité de lumière, permettant de
déterminer la zone géographique dans laquelle elles vont passer
l'hiver, des GLS (pour Geolocation Sensors). Elles seront déséquipées
à leur prochain retour à terre, dans 8 mois. Là encore, c'est des
fois du sport pour les attraper au filet, et les transporter à la
cabane. Les femelles sont pesées puis anesthésiées afin de pouvoir
clipser le GLS sur leur nageoire. Après l'anesthésie, elles sont
surveillées puis relâchées quand elles ont retrouvé toutes leurs
facultés. Nous avons également reçu la visite des « commandos
Colgate », renommés ainsi grâce à la mission cruciale qu'il
devait effectuer (me ramener la brosse à dent que j'avais oubliée
sur base!! C'est pas tout le monde qui peut se vanter d'avoir eu 5
mecs surentraînés pour lui ramener sa brosse à dent....!). Et
accessoirement, ils ont aussi ramené d'autres trucs vitaux en
cabane: le Nutella (ou délice des demoiselles...!), et du cidre pour
Tiphaine! C'est mignon! Plus sérieusement, ils faisaient partis d'un
groupe d'une dizaine de militaires qui ont passé un peu de temps sur
Kerguelen en trek. Ils sont venus nous voir à Pointe Suzanne pour
faire une sortie tout en en apprenant plus sur les animaux. Nous
avons donc fait une petite balade aux environs de la cabane, Tiphaine
en expliquant la partie mammifères marins, et moi la partie piafs! A
part ça, il y avait toujours les papous, non loin de la cabane, pour
nous distraire, ainsi que les cormorans. Voilà, encore une session
où c'était que du bonheur donc (si on met à part les transits où
j'ai encore et toujours attrapé des ampoules, faut dire qu'avec 60
noeuds de vent à l'aller, c'était quand même pas super étonnant, mais
bon... on est pas apprentis héros polaires pour rien!).
After a few days on base to rest after the "watchman session" and when I got to see a beautiful aurora australis, I was back in Pointe Suzanne, in great company (with Tiphaine, known as Suzanne and Pascal, known as the "ideal guy") to meet our nice little pups again.The goal of the field session was to do regular rounds (2-3 times a day) to find as many marked pups as possible, weigh and measure them. Out of the forty pups that had been marked at the beginning of the season, we could find only 25 of them. At this time of the year, it is indeed hard to find them all because they become to be emancipated and to spend more time in the water when their mother go to sea to rebuild their body reserves. Moreover, some might lose their marks and some might have died. But anyway, at this age, they are really cute and charming and it's a piece of work to catch them... Here are some photos so you can judge by yourselves! We also took advantage of this field session to equip some females with devices that record the duration of daylight allowing us to determine in which zones they forage during the winter (GLS for Goelocation Sensors). They'll be caught and their devices will be retrieved when they come back on land, in eight months. Once again, it was a piece of work to catch them and bring them back to the cabin. They were then weighed and anesthetized so we can clip a GLS on their fins. After the process, they were monitored until they'd recovered from the anaesthesia and we let them go. The "Colgate commando unit" also visited us (why Colgate? because their crucial mission was to bring back the toothbrush I'd forgotten on base!! not everybody can say they had five overtrained guys bringing one's toothbrush back... isn't?)! They also brought with them very important items: Nutella (we have a sweet teeth...!) and apple cider for Tiphaine!! They were part of a group of about ten guys from the army who came to Kerguelen for training. They wanted to visit Pointe Suzanne to see a new site and learn about local animals. We thus went on a walk around the cabin and Tiphaine did the talk on marine mammals and I explained the bird stuff! Aside from that, there still were the gentoos, next to the hut, to add more fun to the field session, and the shags. Well, once again, a nice field session (except for the transits when I got blisters again; but the wind we were facing was blowing at 60 knots so it's not very surprising!).
After a few days on base to rest after the "watchman session" and when I got to see a beautiful aurora australis, I was back in Pointe Suzanne, in great company (with Tiphaine, known as Suzanne and Pascal, known as the "ideal guy") to meet our nice little pups again.The goal of the field session was to do regular rounds (2-3 times a day) to find as many marked pups as possible, weigh and measure them. Out of the forty pups that had been marked at the beginning of the season, we could find only 25 of them. At this time of the year, it is indeed hard to find them all because they become to be emancipated and to spend more time in the water when their mother go to sea to rebuild their body reserves. Moreover, some might lose their marks and some might have died. But anyway, at this age, they are really cute and charming and it's a piece of work to catch them... Here are some photos so you can judge by yourselves! We also took advantage of this field session to equip some females with devices that record the duration of daylight allowing us to determine in which zones they forage during the winter (GLS for Goelocation Sensors). They'll be caught and their devices will be retrieved when they come back on land, in eight months. Once again, it was a piece of work to catch them and bring them back to the cabin. They were then weighed and anesthetized so we can clip a GLS on their fins. After the process, they were monitored until they'd recovered from the anaesthesia and we let them go. The "Colgate commando unit" also visited us (why Colgate? because their crucial mission was to bring back the toothbrush I'd forgotten on base!! not everybody can say they had five overtrained guys bringing one's toothbrush back... isn't?)! They also brought with them very important items: Nutella (we have a sweet teeth...!) and apple cider for Tiphaine!! They were part of a group of about ten guys from the army who came to Kerguelen for training. They wanted to visit Pointe Suzanne to see a new site and learn about local animals. We thus went on a walk around the cabin and Tiphaine did the talk on marine mammals and I explained the bird stuff! Aside from that, there still were the gentoos, next to the hut, to add more fun to the field session, and the shags. Well, once again, a nice field session (except for the transits when I got blisters again; but the wind we were facing was blowing at 60 knots so it's not very surprising!).
Pup d'otarie de Kerguelen
et choux de Kerguelen / Fur seal pup and Kerguelen cabbage
Otaries de Kerguelen et
pup en train de têter / Antarctic fur seals and pup being fed
Encore un puppy / Another
pup
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