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The Enigmatic Life History of the Australian Sea Lion

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Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Otariids and the Odobenid

Part of the book series: Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals ((EBEMM))

Abstract

Like most sea lions, Australian sea lions are benthic foragers with prolonged lactation, extensive parental care, complex social interactions, mild-moderate polygyny, are relatively long-lived and near apex predators. They have been well studied in regards to population dynamics, foraging ecology, parent-offspring behavior and social communication; in fact, they are probably the best understood of all the otariids in regards to mother-offspring recognition and mating strategies. Yet they remain an enigmatic beast with a unique, asynchronous aseasonal reproductive cycle, the evolution of which is still not fully understood. In this chapter we compare Australian sea lions to other otariids and the odobenid, describe the detailed understanding of their life history traits and explore putative hypotheses as to how their unique reproductive cycle evolved.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conservation Department, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Cowes, Victoria, Australia

    Rebecca R. McIntosh

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW, Australia

    Rebecca R. McIntosh & Benjamin J. Pitcher

  3. Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Mosman, NSW, Australia

    Benjamin J. Pitcher

Authors
  1. Rebecca R. McIntosh
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  2. Benjamin J. Pitcher
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca R. McIntosh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife Conservation Society, Marine and Argentina Programs, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Claudio Campagna

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Robert Harcourt

1 Electronic Supplementary Material

Male at Dangerous Reef calling like a female then moving off in direction of pup response. Peter Shaughnessy is standing to the right of the male. Video R. McIntosh

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McIntosh, R.R., Pitcher, B.J. (2021). The Enigmatic Life History of the Australian Sea Lion. In: Campagna, C., Harcourt, R. (eds) Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Otariids and the Odobenid. Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59184-7_26

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