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Acquisition of gliding skills by Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) pups during lactation

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Abstract

Pinnipeds give birth to their pups ashore or on ice and forage in water. Therefore, neonates initially lack the adaptations to sustain prolonged underwater diving activity. Although the physiological development for breath-holding during diving has been investigated in seal pups, little is known about the concurrent development of behavioral adaptations during lactation. In this study, multisensor data loggers were used to record diving behavior and swimming gaits of pre-weaned Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) pups. Experiments were conducted in 16 pups at the Syowa Station, Antarctica, from November to December 1999 and 2004. Swimming speeds, dive depths and flipper stroking rates were recorded for each individual for about 24 h. We found that the glide index during ascending was increased with body length, whereas the dominant stroke cycle frequency were not affected by body length, dive depth and descent or ascent phase. All pups had significantly higher stroke rates in descent than in ascent, but there was no difference between swimming speed. As we found a positive relationship between the body length and age, we considered body length as an index of growth. Therefore, we conclude that pups gradually acquire the ability to glide with utilizing positive buoyancy during ascending toward the end of lactation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank J. Burns for providing the unpublished data regarding the growth of Weddell seal pups. We thank S. Watanabe, Y. Watanabe, Y. Mitani and K. Aoki for advices on the data analysis, N. Miyazaki for helpful comments on the manuscript. We thank two anonymous referees for reviewing the manuscript and helpful suggestions. The experimental protocol was previously approved by the National Institute of Polar Research Ethics Committee for Antarctic Research. This study was conducted under the auspices of Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (40th and 45th), and was partly supported by grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19255001) and UTBLS (Bio-Logging Science, University of Tokyo) led by N. Miyazaki.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Fisheries Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Mumi Kikuchi

  2. Laboratory of Physiology, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N18W19 North Ward, Sapporo, 060-0818, Japan

    Kentaro Q. Sakamoto

  3. International Coastal Research Center, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 2-106-1 Akahama, Otsuchi, Iwate, 028-1102, Japan

    Katsufumi Sato

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  1. Mumi Kikuchi
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  2. Kentaro Q. Sakamoto
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  3. Katsufumi Sato
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Correspondence to Mumi Kikuchi.

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Kikuchi, M., Sakamoto, K.Q. & Sato, K. Acquisition of gliding skills by Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) pups during lactation. Polar Biol 33, 1429–1435 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0835-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0835-7

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