Bruce Bagemihl - Biological Exuberance

In spite of these severe obstacles facing adult females and young seals, a number of innovative shared parenting or “day-care” arrangements have developed in these species. In Australian Sea Lions, females take turns watching over and defending a group of pups. In Northern Fur Seals, pups gather in nursery groups or PODS for protection while their mothers are away at sea—which is most of the time, since mothers usually spend only one day ashore each week and may be gone for up to 16 days at a time. Female Australian Sea Lions that have lost their own pup also sometimes try to abduct another female’s youngster.

*asterisked references discuss homosexuality/transgender

*Bartholomew, G. A. (1959) “Mother-Young Relations and the Maturation of Pup Behavior in the Alaska Fur Seal.” Animal Behavior 7:163–71.

Bartholomew, G. A., and P. G. Hoel (1953) “Reproductive Behavior of the Alaska Fur Seal, Callorhinus ursinus. ” Journal of Mammalogy 34:417–36.

Gales, N. J., P. D. Shaughnessy, and T. E. Dennis (1994) “Distribution, Abundance, and Breeding Cycle of the Australian Sea Lion Neophoca cinerea (Mammalia: Pinnipedia).” Journal of Zoology, London 234:353–70.

*Gentry, R. L. (1998) Behavior and Ecology of the Northern Fur Seal. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

———(1981) “Northern Fur Seal, Callorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus, 1758).” In S. H. Ridgway and R. J. Harrison, eds., Handbook of Marine Mammals, vol. 1, pp. 143–60. London: Academic Press.

Higgins, L. V. (1993) “The Nonannual, Nonseasonal Breeding Cycle of the Australian Sea Lion, Neophoca cinerea. ” Journal of Mammalogy 74:270–74.

Higgins, L. V., and R. A. Tedman (1990) “Attacks on Pups by Male Australian Sea Lions, Neophoca cinerea, and the Effect on Pup Mortality.” Journal of Mammalogy 71:617–19.

Kenyon, K. W., and F. Wilke (1953) “Migration of the Northern Fur Seal, Callorhinus ursinus. ” Journal of Mammalogy 34:86–89.

*Marlow, B. J. (1975) “The Comparative Behavior of the Australasian Sea Lions Neophoca cinerea and Phocarctos hookeri (Pinnipedia: Otariidae).” Mammalia 39:159–230.

———(1972) “Pup Abduction in the Australian Sea-lion, Neophoca cinerea :” Mammalia 36:161–65.

Miller, E. H., A. Ponce de Léon, and R. L. DeLong (1996) “Violent Interspecific Sexual Behavior by Male Sea Lions (Otariidae): Evolutionary and Phylogenetic Implications:” Marine Mammal Science 12:468–76.

Peterson, R. S. (1968) “Social Behavior in Pinnipeds with Particular Reference to the Northern Fur Seal.” In R. J. Harrison, R. C. Hubbard, R. S. Peterson, C. E. Rice, and R. J. Schusterman, eds., The Behavior and Physiology of Pinnipeds, pp. 3–53. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Walker, G. E., and J. K. Ling (1981) “New Zealand Sea Lion, Phocarctos hookeri (Gray, 1844)” and “Australian Sea Lion, Neophoca cinerea (Peron, 1816).” In S. H. Ridgway and R. J. Harrison, eds., Handbook of Marine Mammals, vol. 1, pp. 25–38, 99–118. London: Academic Press.

Wilson, G. J. (1979) “Hooker’s Sea Lions in Southern New Zealand.” New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 13:373–75.

York, A. E., and V. B. Scheffer (1997) “Timing of Implantation in the Northern Fur Seal, Callorhinus ursinus.” Journal of Mammalogy 78:675–83.

IDENTIFICATION: A huge pinniped (up to 12 feet and 3,500 pounds in males) with sparsely furred, brownish orange skin, a bristled “mustache,” and prominent tusks in adult males. DISTRIBUTION: Throughout the Arctic. HABITAT: Shallow waters, coastal areas, ice floes. STUDY AREAS: Round Island, Bristol Bay, Alaska; Coats Island, Hudson Bay; Bathurst and Dundas Islands, Northwest Territories, Canada; New York Aquarium; subspecies O.r. divergens, the Pacific Walrus, and O.r. rosmarus, the Atlantic Walrus.

From January to March (the breeding season), Walruses congregate far from shore on and around pack ice, where heterosexual courtship and mating take place. The mating system is polygynous—males generally copulate with several different females without forming long-lasting heterosexual bonds. During the summer and early fall, males gather together in large aggregations numbering in the thousands, typically on islands that are used for this purpose year after year. These “haul-outs” are sex-segregated. When both males and females are present, they tend to occupy distinct areas; more typically, however, the haul-outs are entirely male, since females and their young migrate to the far north to spend the summer.

Behavioral Expression: In the shallow waters off the coast of the summer haul-out grounds, male Walruses engage in homosexual courtship, sexual, and affectionate activities. Pairs of males—sometimes as many as 50 animals at a time—float at the surface of the water by inflating special pouches in their throat, which act like the buoyant sacs in a life vest. While floating and swimming, the males—especially younger ones—rub their bodies against one another, clasp and embrace each other with their front flippers, touch noses, and loll together in groups. Males sometimes even sleep together in the water—pairs or groups of males float vertically at the surface (a posture known as BOTTLING), one behind the other, each male clasping the one in front of him in a “sleeping line.” Males also perform courtship displays for other males, employing a number of extraordinary behaviors and sounds that are also used in heterosexual courtship. Typically a younger male displays to an older one, and courting males often situate themselves in the water near a favorite cliff face, boulder, or rock formation at the water’s edge. The spectacular display consists of inflation of the throat pouches—often preceded by head bowing—interspersed with dives by one or both males, and an incredible series of vocalizations that form a courtship “song.” In homosexual encounters, at least three types of calls are used: KNOCKS, which are rapid, clicklike sounds resembling castanets, produced by “chattering” the cheek teeth underwater; a metallic BELL call, which is an eerie gonglike sound thought to be produced underwater by striking the throat pouches with the flippers to generate air pulses; and a short, piercing WHISTLE made through pursed lips when the Walrus resurfaces.

During same-sex courtship, sometimes one male rubs his erect, arm-sized penis with his front flipper. Overt sexual behavior between males takes the form of mounting (in the shallow water): one male clasps another with his flippers from behind, thrusting his pelvis and erect penis against the other male’s anal region. Younger males mount older ones and vice versa. Although most homosexual behavior is confined to the summer haul-outs, younger males sometimes also mount adults or other younger males during the breeding season. Groups of younger Walruses may crowd around an older male and roll on top of him; in addition, an adult male occasionally sings his courtship songs to a group of younger males or is accompanied by a younger attendant male while he sings. Often, his companion surfaces and dives in synchrony with him. This behavior, known as SHADOWING, occurs regardless of whether the adult is courting a female. In addition, male Walruses in captivity have been observed participating in cross-species homosexual encounters with male Gray Seals.