Summary
The number of feeding trips to sea made by female Antarctic Fur Seals during lactation may reflect the relative availability of local prey resources. Experimental work utilizing tetracycline-marked teeth confirmed that the feeding trip/suckling cycles of females are reflected as starving/suckling layers in the teeth of their pups. A collection of unmarked Antarctic Fur Seal teeth from Bird Island, South Georgia, was analyzed to estimate: (1) birth year of individuals, and (2) the number of feeding trips made by an individual’s mother during lactation.
This analysis showed that between 1962 and 1981 the mean number of feeding trips made by female fur seals varied markedly. From 1962 to 1979 there were several significant increasing and decreasing trends in the mean number of feeding trips, with 1979 being the year with the fewest trips made during the entire 20-year period.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bengtson JL, Laws RM (1985) Trends in crabeater seal age at maturity: an insight into Antarctic marine interactions. In: Siegfried WR, Condy PR, Laws RM (eds) Antarctic nutrient cycles and food webs. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 669–675
Bonner WN (1968) The fur seal of South Georgia. Sci Rep Br Antarct Surv 56: 1–81
Bonner WN (1981) Southern fur seals, Arctocephalus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier 1826). In: Ridgway SH, Harrison RJ (eds) Handbook of marine mammals, vol 1. Academic Press, London New York, pp 161–208
Brinton E, Huntley M, Townsend AW (1986) Larvae of Euphausia superba in the Scotia Sea and Bransfield Strait in March 1984 - development and abundance compared with 1981 larvae. Polar Biol 5: 221–234
Croxall JP, Pilcher MN (1984) Characteristics of krill, Euphausia superba, eaten by Antarctic Fur Seals, Arctocephalus gazella, at South Georgia. Br Antarct Surv Bull 63: 117–125
Croxall JP, Prince PA (1979) Antarctic seabird and seal monitoring studies. Polar Rec 19: 573–595
Doidge DW, Croxall JP (1985) Diet and energy budget of the Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella at South Georgia. In:Siegfried WR, Condy PR, Laws RM (eds) Antarctic nutrient cycles and food webs. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 543–550
Doidge DW, Croxall JP, Baker JR (1984a) Density-dependent pup mortality in the Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella at South Georgia. J Zool 202: 449–460
Doidge DW, Croxall JP, Ricketts C (1984b) Growth rates of Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella pups at South Georgia. J Zool 203:87–93
Doidge DW, McCann TS, Croxall JP (1986) Attendance behavior of Antarctic Fur Seals. In: Gentry RL, Kooyman GI (eds) Fur seals, maternal strategies on land and at sea. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, pp 102–114
Gurevich VS, Stewart BS, Cornell LH (1980) The use of tetracycline in age determination of common dolphins, Delphinus delphis. In: Perrin WF, Myrick AC Jr (eds) Age determination of toothed whales and sirenians. Rep Int Whal Comm Spec Issue 3 Cambridge, pp 165–169
Hempel I (1985) Variation in geographical distribution and abundance of larvae of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, in the southern Atlantic Ocean. In: Siegfried WR, Condy PR, Laws RM (eds) Antarctic nutrient cycles and food webs. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 305–307
Heywood RB, Everson I, Priddle J (1985) The absence of krill from the South Georgia zone, winter 1983. Deep-Sea Res 32:369–378
Macaulay M, Daly KL, Mathisen OA (1988) Interyear variability in the abundance and distribution of Antarctic krill near Elephant Island and the South Orkney Islands, (in prep)
Payne MR (1977) Growth of a fur seal population. Philos Trans R Soc London Ser B 279:67–79
Payne MR (1978) Population size and age determination in the Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella. Mammal Rev 8: 67–73
Payne MR (1979) Fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis and Arctocephalus gazella crossing the Antarctic Convergence at South Georgia, South Atlantic Ocean. Mammalia 43:93–98
Scheffer VB, Peterson RS (1967) Growth layers in teeth of suckling fur seals. Growth 31:35–38
Seber GAF (1982) The estimation of animal abundance and related parameters, 2nd edn. Griffin, London, 654 p
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bengtson, J.L. (1988). Long-Term Trends in the Foraging Patterns of Female Antarctic Fur Seals at South Georgia. In: Sahrhage, D. (eds) Antarctic Ocean and Resources Variability. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73724-4_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73724-4_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73726-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-73724-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive