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Distribution of post-weaning Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella pups at South Georgia

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Abstract

Potentially some of the biggest gaps in our knowledge about the ecology of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) relate to juvenile animals. We investigated the at-sea distribution of five male and five female fur seal pups post-weaning. The study was carried out at Bird Island, South Georgia during two successive winters using satellite-linked platform transmitter terminals (PTTs). Our results are analysed in relation to pup sex and the physical environment and productivity of those 2 years, as well as in the context of our present knowledge of where post-breeding females and males forage. The available physical and biological data during both of the winters of this study suggest that both years were not unusual. We report marked differences between the sexes with male pups foraging significantly further away from land and their birth site than do females. The pups foraged in areas to the East of Bird Island seldom reported as foraging areas for the adult population. Also as winter progressed they showed a more oceanic distribution leaving the continental shelf, possibly to exploit a different prey source that was more readily available in the upper water column.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all staff of the British Antarctic Survey research station on Bird Island for all their support and help. Janet Silk for helping with ArcGIS. Keith Reid and Iain Staniland for useful suggestions and two anonymous referees. We thank the SeaWiFS Project (Project Code 970.2) and the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Centre / Distributed Active Archive Centre (Project Code 902) for the production and distribution of satellite data products and the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov for the distribution and production of the SST data.

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  1. M.J. Jessopp

    Present address: Department of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science, University College Cork, Lee Maltings, Cork, Ireland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK

    N.L. Warren, P.N. Trathan, J. Forcada, A. Fleming & M.J. Jessopp

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Correspondence to P.N. Trathan.

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Warren, N., Trathan, P., Forcada, J. et al. Distribution of post-weaning Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella pups at South Georgia. Polar Biol 29, 179–188 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-005-0037-x

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