The Whispering Land

This bull was a magnificent beast, with a huge barrel-like body, and a great carunculated nose, like that of a confirmed gin-drinker. He lay on the shining shingle like a colossal blob of putty, occasionally sighing deeply so that his nose wobbled like a jelly, or every so often waking up sufficiently to ladle some damp shingle on to his back with one of his flippers.

His placidity towards our intrusion was extraordinary, for we approached within three or four feet to measure and take photographs, and all he did was to open his eyes, survey us dreamily, and sink back into sleep again.

For me this was a tremendously exciting experience. Other people may have a burning ambition to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa,* or visit Venice, or see the Acropolis* before they die. But my ambition had been to see a live elephant seal in his natural environment, and here I was, lying on the shingle eating sandwiches within five feet of one, who lay there looking not unlike a baby barrage balloon* which has, unaccountably, been filled with dough. With a sandwich in one hand and a stopwatch* in the other I checked on his breathing, which is one of the many remarkable things about an elephant seal. They breathe fairly regularly some thirty times during five minutes, and then they stop breathing for a time, which varies from five to eight minutes. Presumably this is of great use to them when they are at sea, for they can rise to the surface, breathe, and then sink below the water and hold their breath for considerable period without having to resurface and refill their lungs. I was so carried away, lying there with these gigantic and fantastic animals within touching distance, that I proceeded to give the others a lecture on the elephant seal.

''It's quite extraordinary the soundness of their sleep. Do you know there was one naturalist who actually went and lay on top of an elephant seal without waking it?"

Jacquie surveyed the colossal animal in front of me.

"Rather him than me,"* she said.

"Apparently the females don't become sexually mature until they are two years old. Now those babies over there are this year's brood."

"This year's brood?" Jacquie interrupted in astonishment. "I thought they were about a year old."

"No, I should say they are four or five months old."

"How big are they when they're born, then?"

"Oh, about half that size, I should think."

"Good God!" said Jacquie with feeling. "Fancy giving birth to a thing that size."

"There you are," I said. "It just goes to show that there's always someone worse off than you are."

The elephant seal, as if in agreement, gave a deep, heart-rending sigh.

"Do you know that the intestine of an adult bull can measure six hundred and sixty-two feet?" I inquired.

"No, I didn't," said Jacquie, "and I think we'd all enjoy our sandwiches more if you refrained from divulging any more secrets of their internal anatomy."

"Well, I thought it would interest you."

"It does," said Jacquie, "but not when I'm eating. It's the sort of information I prefer to acquire between meals."

There were several things that struck one immediately about the elephant seals, once one had got over incredulity at their mere size. The first thing was, of course, their ridiculous hindquarters. The fur seal (which is really a sea lion) has the hind limbs well developed as legs, so that when they move they hoist themselves up on to all four legs and walk as a dog or a cat would. But in the elephant seal, which is a true seal, the hind limbs are minute and pretty useless, with stupid flippers that make it look as though the animal has had a couple of empty gloves attached to its rear end. When the creature moves all the propulsion comes from the front flippers, and the humping of the massive back, a slow, ungainly method of movement that was painful to watch.

There was quite a colour variation* among the herd. The old bull was a rich, deep slate-grey, tastefully speckled here and there with green, where some marine alga* was apparently growing on his tough hide. The young bulls and the cows were a much paler grey. The babies were not bald and leathery like their parents, but each was wearing a fine fur coat of moon-white hair, close and tight as plush. The adults had so many folds and wrinkles all over them that they looked rather as if they were in need of a square meal to fill out the creases, as it were, whereas the babies were so rotund and glossy they looked as though they all had just been blown up with bicycle pumps, and would, if they were not careful, take to the air.*