Our first stop was a small cove where young male seals, outcasts from a colony on the headland, were basking on the rocks a few yards away.

In late May, the male seals arrive and stake out their territory in preparation for the arrival of the females.

During the mating season, male seals will "sing," emitting a long-drawn-out warbling note that ends in a sort of moan or sigh.

Andre died in 1986, after he was sighted with bruises apparently suffered in a fight with another male seal.

However, male seals tend to have a thicker neck and a broader head and muzzle than the females.

In the summer of 2002, Tama-chan, a normally arctic male bearded seal first spotted in Tama River, became a major nationwide celebrity.

Much as he imagined a male seal might react, encountering a male walrus for the first time.

The seals were packed snugly side by side along the side of the fjord, with the giant male seals sitting on ice floes, guarding them.

He was also to cull 5,000 adult male seals, whose genitals are prized as aphrodisiacs in the Far East.

During the mating season, male seals will "sing".