Alaskan Wildlife gone Hollywood

[NorthernFocus]

A couple of weeks ago on the same trip when I captured the guillemot photos, this harbor seal was sunbathing on the dock where we spent one night tied up. While it is common to see sea lions on docks in California, I've never seen a harbor seal do it in Alaska. Obviously with a seal taking a nap essentially on our doorstep, I had to break out the camera.

For one thing, this is the first harbor seal I've seen (or at least noticed) that was this golden color. They are typically grey. These guys are usually very cautious when they haul out as they are nearly immobile out of water. This one was either habituated to human presence or just not very shy. We had walked up and down the dock half a dozen times or so passing by within 15-20 feet of it. Since I had a long lens on the camera when I went out to shoot I sat down about 30-40 feet away and the critter pretty much ignored me.

With the aid of 400mm on a cropped body this was an opportunity to study details that I would never get to see in more wild locations. For example, in the third photo, note the shape of the whiskers. This was puzzling to me and I couldn't imagine the function. Then it dawned on me that they look just like the radio antenna on an auto or exhaust stacks built in windy locations. The shape results in "vortex shedding" which stops them from vibrating when water passes over them at high speed. I guess it would rather tickle if one's whiskers vibrated while swimming. We humans just relatively recently discovered this phenomenon of vortex shedding that nature has resolved for eons.

Best viewed in the lightbox.

Nikon D7100, 80-400 AF-S

1.


2.


3.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[chauncey]

That first image Dan...is there some cloudiness in the camera right eye as compared to the other.
Interesting shots...thanks for education.

[Brownbear]

Thanks for sharing. The 1st image is exceptionally beautiful and special to me for the eye contact and moment captured.

Harbour seals sunbathing on docks... I wish!

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the comments, folks. Glad you enjoyed the story.

That first image Dan...is there some cloudiness in the camera right eye as compared to the other.
...

I don't think the eye is cloudy. I did not get that sense looking through the lens and he/she did look at me several times. I think the appearance is a combination of two things. For one, if you notice that eye isn't very shiny like the other one. I think it was in need of a good blink to re-wet it. The second thing is the angular light passing through the eye. I have some photos of moose that look the same way under similar angular lighting conditions.

One thing that doesn't show in any of these shots is that the seal had some pretty deep wounds on its neck from fighting. Some were gashes and some were circular puncture wounds so I assume they were from fighting with rivals of its own species.

[bnnrcn]

#1 is excellent

[John 2]

No. 1 for me also Dan. The appealing look in those eyes gets me every time.

[Nicks Pics]

Interesting observation about the seal whiskers. Photos make a good way to notice things like that. In nature, as with man-made things, one can never take it for granted that things work. They were engineered, and we're sometimes able to observe how God has done that. It's often in the similar ways that we humans now make things with our "technology".

Here's a short article about how seal's whiskers help them track fish.

http://www.icr.org/article/seal-whis...k-fish-trails/

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the comments, folks.

That was an interesting article and helped explain the critical reason for the shape of the whiskers. They wouldn't be nearly as sensitive if they were subject to vibration induced by vortex shedding. A matter of survival and simply a tickly face.

Human technology has mimicked nature throughout recorded history. The most well known is probably copying the shape of birds' wings to achieve flight. But there are countless examples. Early body armor was made from overlapping plates resembling scales on fish and reptiles. The shape of ships' hulls below the waterline were pointed at both ends and slightly thicker forward like the shape of a fish. In some cases, like the hull shape, people didn't understand the physics and why it was better, they simply observed how well it worked in nature and copied it. Thanks for sharing the link.

[Rita]

A nice series and education to go with it. Number 1 is just plain adorable.

[FrankMi]

Great shots and a superb opportunity to learn something new. Thank you so much for posting both Dan!

[Nicks Pics]

That is interesting how many examples there are of nature-copying technologies. I actually came across this article too, about how birds' wings and aircraft wings share common design, as mentioned.

If this is an area of interest to some of you here, the website at this link might be worth checking out.

Article here:
http://creation.com/amazing-discover...dge-technology

[IzzieK]

Dan...if you will notice they do not have eyelids. If you compare the bottom eyes to the top eyes (in this case of your photo) they may have filaments instead of eyelids. I may be wrong...it is sort of like nictitating membrane like bears have...or a cat.

I like the pose of the first one...he looks so pitiful...thanks for the story...I googled guillemot seal and the first selection is your post here...Hey! you are famous...

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for all of the participation in this thread. It's interesting.

[deetheturk]

Nice captures Dan!