Furry pups are popping out all over the place at the moment. Females give birth to a single pup between mid-November and late December. I witnessed a female giving birth on one of my evening walks just off the track to Grytviken last week. This picture is of a pup which is a few days old they come out dark brown, nearly black in color. 1 in 1000 are blond.

The pups are weaned after about four months. This pup was on its own as its mother has gone out to sea to forage for primarily krill. In between these foraging trips, they are ashore for one to several days to nurse their pups. Survival of suckling pups is low in years when krill abundance near a colony is insufficient to allow lactating females to forage effectively. This occurred in South Georgia two years ago when the currents meant that krill was in very low densities around the island.

The diving ability of pups substantially improves during the first few months of life, and by about four months old their diving patterns are similar to those of adult females. The deepest recorded dive of an adult was 590 feet deep and they can hold their breaths for up to 10 minutes.