Erebus Bay is home to the most southerly breeding population of Weddell seals in the world.
They have been studied intensively since 1968.
As of 2022 a database held data for 28,000 marked seals, and held detailed information on individual seals and on populations.
The seals are easy to approach and tag while they are rearing their pups, and return to the same sites years after year.[3]
They suffer a significant cost to personal survival when they breed, rather than conforming to the "prudent parent" reproductive strategy that life history theory predicts for long-lived mammals.[4]
L-R: Tent, Inaccessible, Big Razorback, Little Razorback
Inaccessible Island from southeast
Tent Island
Little Razorback, late season annual sea ice
Big Razorback
Inaccessible Island
77°39′S166°21′E / 77.650°S 166.350°E / -77.650; 166.350.
A small rocky island, the northernmost of the Dellbridge Islands, lying 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) southwest of Cape Evans.
It is the most imposing of the group as it is nearly always bare of snow and rises to 95 meters.
Discovered by the BrNAE (1901-04) under Scott, and so named because of the difficulty in reaching it.[6]
Tent Island
77°41′S166°23′E / 77.683°S 166.383°E / -77.683; 166.383.
The largest of the Dellbridge Islands, about 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) long and 135 metres (443 ft) high, lying south of Cape Evans.
Discovered by the BrNAE (1901-04), which so named this island for its tentlike appearance.[7]
Little Razorback Island
77°40′S166°31′E / 77.667°S 166.517°E / -77.667; 166.517.
The smallest and easternmost of the Dellbridge Islands.
Discovered by the BrNAE under Scott, 1901-04, and so named because of its size and similarity to nearby Big Razorback Island.[8]
77°43′S166°53′E / 77.717°S 166.883°E / -77.717; 166.883.
Cliff on the west side of Hut Point Peninsula, between Hutton Cliffs and Erebus Glacier Tongue.
Charted and so named by the British Antarctic Expedition under Scott, 1910-13, because it was here that a descent to the sea ice was made.[11]
Hutton Cliffs
77°44′S166°51′E / 77.733°S 166.850°E / -77.733; 166.850.
Cliffs on the west side of Hut Point Peninsula, about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) north of Ford Rock.
Discovered by the BrNAE (1901-04) and named for Captain Hutton of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand.[12]