Image: Weddell seal mother and pup swim near a breathing hole in the ice. Source: TIME.com
Just watched Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World, and learned some amazing things.
First, Werner Herzog has a really annoying voice. If you ever wanted to hear a middle-aged German doing a poor impression of Peter Lorre, he’s your man. That wasn’t particularly amazing, though.
No, the amazing thing was hearing recordings of Weddell seals. A scientist at the seal camp described it as “non-organic”. That’s putting it mildly. Go to this page, scroll down to the bottom, and have a listen to a male Weddell seal mating call. Apparently on quiet nights, you can actually hear them broadcasting away, even through the 6-foot-thick ice shelf.
Now the obvious question is, why hasn’t an enterprising animal behaviorist trained a bunch of Weddell seals to perform Peter Howell’s version of the 1980-1985 Doctor Who theme?
Chris is most often found flying a desk, but he delights in studying the Golden Age of Aviation (1919-1939). He admires all the pioneering men and women who navigated the skies with nothing more sophisticated than a map, compass and sextant—and the conviction that there was no place they could not reach.
