Tracking the foraging migrations of Marion Island southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) during their first year of life
Tracking the foraging migrations of Marion Island southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) during their first year of life
The first year of life is critical for large mammals to acquire foraging and predator avoidance skills. Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) pups wean at approximately three weeks of age and depart on their first foraging trips in midsummer, typically remaining at sea for three to four months before returning to their natal islands. We describe the foraging trips (n = 29) of 16 underyearling southern elephant seals from sub-Antarctic Marion Island and compare these with trips (n = 152) of 94 older seals from the same population. While subadults (prebreeding age) and adult females (breeding age) displayed directional travel, underyearlings traveled in multiple directions from the island with no evidence of repeatability of travel directions within or between individuals and years. Maiden trips took longer to complete than subsequent trips during the first year of life, but we found no evidence for significant changes in other track metrics between the first three foraging trips. The comparatively inconsistent movement patterns of underyearlings suggest that foraging strategies of individuals are influenced by their learning and/or success during the first year of life and that individual level consistency in successful foraging strategies only become apparent in subsequent years.
geolocation, habitat selection, marine mammal, ontogeny, Phocidae, tracking
McIntyre, Trevor
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Oosthuizen, W. Chris
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Bester, Marthán N.
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Hindell, Mark A.
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Reisinger, Ryan R.
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Tosh, Cheryl A.
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van den Hoff, John
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de Bruyn, P.J. Nico
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9 October 2023
McIntyre, Trevor
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Oosthuizen, W. Chris
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Bester, Marthán N.
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Hindell, Mark A.
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Reisinger, Ryan R.
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Tosh, Cheryl A.
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van den Hoff, John
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de Bruyn, P.J. Nico
3257867f-eda3-4ddf-baa3-aaf692de19bb
McIntyre, Trevor, Oosthuizen, W. Chris, Bester, Marthán N., Hindell, Mark A., Reisinger, Ryan R., Tosh, Cheryl A., van den Hoff, John and de Bruyn, P.J. Nico
(2023)
Tracking the foraging migrations of Marion Island southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) during their first year of life.
Marine Mammal Science.
(doi:10.1111/mms.13078).
Abstract
The first year of life is critical for large mammals to acquire foraging and predator avoidance skills. Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) pups wean at approximately three weeks of age and depart on their first foraging trips in midsummer, typically remaining at sea for three to four months before returning to their natal islands. We describe the foraging trips (n = 29) of 16 underyearling southern elephant seals from sub-Antarctic Marion Island and compare these with trips (n = 152) of 94 older seals from the same population. While subadults (prebreeding age) and adult females (breeding age) displayed directional travel, underyearlings traveled in multiple directions from the island with no evidence of repeatability of travel directions within or between individuals and years. Maiden trips took longer to complete than subsequent trips during the first year of life, but we found no evidence for significant changes in other track metrics between the first three foraging trips. The comparatively inconsistent movement patterns of underyearlings suggest that foraging strategies of individuals are influenced by their learning and/or success during the first year of life and that individual level consistency in successful foraging strategies only become apparent in subsequent years.
Text
Tracking the foraging migrations of Marion Island southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) during their first year of life
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 11 September 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 9 October 2023
Published date: 9 October 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We are grateful for the constructive comments and suggestions received from three anonymous reviewers as well as the Editor, Daryl Boness. The South African Department of Science and Innovation through the National Research Foundation provided financial support and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) via the South African National Antarctic Programme provided logistical support in the collection of the data presented here. All research reported here conforms to Antarctic Treaty legislation and to the SCAR code of conduct for the use of animals for scientific purposes in Antarctica (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, 2011). We adhered to the ASAB/ABS (1990) guidelines for the use of animals in research and the laws of South Africa, where the research was conducted. All flipper tagging and satellite device deployment/retrieval procedures were reviewed and approved by the Animal Use and Care Committee and more recently the renamed Animal Ethics Committee of the University of Pretoria (AUCC 040827‐024; AUCC 040827‐023 and EC077‐15), and fieldwork was performed under Prince Edward Island's Research Permits R8‐04 and R04‐08.
Keywords:
geolocation, habitat selection, marine mammal, ontogeny, Phocidae, tracking
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 483222
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483222
ISSN: 0824-0469
PURE UUID: fbbc2457-5069-478d-9388-238193e4fd18
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Date deposited: 26 Oct 2023 16:46
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:03
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Contributors
Author:
Trevor McIntyre
Author:
W. Chris Oosthuizen
Author:
Marthán N. Bester
Author:
Mark A. Hindell
Author:
Cheryl A. Tosh
Author:
John van den Hoff
Author:
P.J. Nico de Bruyn
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