It's official
I've been thinking for a while that Chirper is gone, but it's now been ninety days since I last saw him, so it's finally official. Slick is the only adult male left at Trinidad Bay now.
That's not to say that old "Mystery Male" is dead. In fact I rather doubt it. He's simply returned to wherever he disappeared to last time in 2003-2004, which I presume is also the place of his birth nine years ago.
What I think probably happened is that Chirper and Slick had a falling out during the last mating season in April. Being the only two adult males along this local stretch of coastline, it was inevitable that they would fight over access to the only two adult females - Nova and Mother - and apparently, Slick won. It's not surprising to me that there was a sundering between these two. I've documented loss of friendship between males before, and anyway, I could tell by how they behaved around each other that Slick and Chirper weren't very close to begin with.
But even if Chirper isn't dead, that leaves one less otter here now; one step closer to the population's demise.
That's not to say that old "Mystery Male" is dead. In fact I rather doubt it. He's simply returned to wherever he disappeared to last time in 2003-2004, which I presume is also the place of his birth nine years ago.
What I think probably happened is that Chirper and Slick had a falling out during the last mating season in April. Being the only two adult males along this local stretch of coastline, it was inevitable that they would fight over access to the only two adult females - Nova and Mother - and apparently, Slick won. It's not surprising to me that there was a sundering between these two. I've documented loss of friendship between males before, and anyway, I could tell by how they behaved around each other that Slick and Chirper weren't very close to begin with.
But even if Chirper isn't dead, that leaves one less otter here now; one step closer to the population's demise.