Abstract
We studied the dispersion of 4-year-old southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) along a 75.5 km coastal area at the Courbet Peninsula, Iles Kerguelen, relative to their birth site when they were ashore to moult in early 1984. The seals were mostly faithful to their natal sites, but availability of suitable moulting habitat (e.g. wallows, vegetated areas) influenced seal dispersion. As moult progressed, the seals moved farther away from their initial moult sites and natal sites, but remained largely on the easterly beaches of the Courbet Peninsula. This behaviour would facilitate mark-recapture estimates of age and sex specific survival.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bester MN (1988) Marking and monitoring studies of the Kerguelen stock of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina and their bearing on biological research in the Vestfold Hills. Hydrobiologia 165:269–277
Bester MN, Roux J-P (1986) The second survey of Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella on the Courbet Peninsula, Iles Kerguelen. S Afr J Antarct Res 16:33–37
Bester MN, Wilkinson IS (1994) Population ecology of southern elephant seals at Marion Island. In: Le Boeuf BJ, Laws RM (eds) Elephant seals: population ecology, behavior and physiology. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 85–97
Burton HR (1985) Tagging studies of male southern elephant seals in the Vestfold Hills area, Antarctica, and some aspects of their behaviour. In: Ling LK, Bryden MM (eds) Sea mammals of south latitudes. Proceedings of a symposium of the 52nd ANZAAS congress in Sydney, May 1982. South Australian Museum, Adelaide, pp 19–30
Carrick R, Csordas SE, Ingham SE, Keith K (1962) Studies on the southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina (L.) III. The annual cycle in relation to age and sex. CSIRO Wildl Res 7:119–160
Condy PR (1979) The annual cycle of the southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina (L.) at Marion Island. S Afr J Zool 14:95–102
Guinet C, Jouventin P, Weimerskirch H (1992) Population changes, movements of southern elephant seals on Crozet and Kerguelen Archipelagos in the last decades. Polar Biol 12:349–356
Hindell MA, Burton HR (1988) Seasonal haul-out patterns of the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina L.) at Macquarie Island. J Mammal 69:81–88
Hindell MA, Little GJ (1988) Longevity, fertility and philopatry of two female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) at Macquarie Island. Mar Mamm Sci 4:168–171
Hofmeyr GJG (2000) Dispersal and dispersion of southern elephant seals at Marion Island. M.Sc. Dissertation, University of Pretoria, South Africa, p 137
Kirkman SP, Bester MN, Pistorius PA, Hofmeyr GJG, Owen R, Mecenero S (2001) Participation in the winter haulout by southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). Antarct Sci 13:380–384
Kirkman SP, Bester MN, Pistorius PA, Hofmeyr GJG, Jonker FC, Owen R, Strydom N (2003) Variation in the timing of moult in southern elephant seals at Marion Island. S Afr J Wildl Res 33:79–84
Le Boeuf BJ, Laws RM (1994) Elephant seals: an introduction to the genus. In: Le Boeuf BJ, Laws RM (eds) Elephant seals: population ecology, behavior and physiology. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 1–26
Lenglart PY, Bester MN (1982) Post-weaning dispersion of southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina underyearlings at Kerguelen. Rev Ecol (Terre Vie) 36:175–186
Ling JK, Bryden MM (1981) Southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina (Linnaeus). In: Ridgway SH, Harrison RJ (eds) Handbook of marine mammals. Academic Press, London, pp 297–327
Mulaudzi TW (2005) Terrestrial haulout site usage by southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, at Marion Island. M.Sc. Dissertation, University of Pretoria, South Africa, p 99
Nicholls DG (1970) Dispersal and dispersion in relation to the birthsite of the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina (L.), of Macquarie Island. Mammalia 34:598–616
Slip DJ, Burton HR (1999) Population status and seasonal haulout patterns of the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) at Heard Island. Antarct Sci 11:38–47
Van Aarde RJ, Pascal M (1980) Marking southern elephant seals on Iles Kerguelen. Polar Rec 20:61–65
van den Hoff J (2001) Dispersal of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina L.) marked at Macquarie Island. Wildl Res 28:413–418
Acknowledgments
We thank members of the 33rd French (Terres Australes et Antarctiques Francaises—TAAF) Research Expeditions to Iles Kerguelen for their support, and Pierre Jouventin and John Skinner for making the collaborative study possible, all those years ago. Pierre-Yves Lenglart was heavily involved in the marking programme during the 29th TAAF expedition. TS re-examined the data while working at the MRI, UP, through an exchange programme with the Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, funded by Fredskorpset, Norway.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Setsaas, T.H., Bester, M.N., van Niekerk, J.H. et al. Dispersion during the moult haulout of southern elephant seals at the Courbet Peninsula, Iles Kerguelen. Polar Biol 31, 249–253 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0378-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0378-8