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Sexual harassment and female gregariousness in the South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens

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Abstract

Most colonial pinnipeds form extreme clusters of breeding females that cannot be entirely explained by the distribution of sites for reproduction. Avoidance of male harassment has been postulated as an important determinant of reproductive aggregation in this group of mammals. Female gregariousness can reduce harassment by resident males by two mechanisms; directly by the ‘dilution effect’ or indirectly because resident males that defend large female groups are less harassing. In order to investigate the relationship between male harassment and female gregariousness in relation to the size of breeding groups, we analysed the behaviour of dominant males and their females in a breeding colony of Otaria flavescens. Females in large breeding groups received less harassment by resident males due to dilution effects and because males that defended a large group interacted less frequently with females than males with small groups.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Claudio Campagna for advice and support for HLC during data collection and the development of his Ph.D. thesis. We also thank Fabián Pérez, Fabián Crespo, Valeria Szapkievich, Laura Alvarez, Silvina Gutierrez, Rodolfo Werner and Ramón Bernabeu who helped us in the field work at Península Valdés and to the authorities of Secretaría de Turismo y Áreas Protegidas, Government of Chubut, for permission to conduct the field work at Reserva de Fauna de Punta Norte. This work was funded by grants from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (PIP 2005 5489). J.I. Túnez was supported by a Ph.D. grant from CONICET. M.H. Cassini is a member of the CONICET. The studies were conducted following the norms of the Secretaría de Turismo y Áreas Protegidas, Chubut, Argentina.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Estación Hidrobiológica de Puerto Quequén y Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’ (MACN–CONICET), Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Humberto L. Cappozzo

  2. Grupo de Estudios en Eco-Etología de Mamíferos, Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Rutas 5 y 7 (6700), Luján, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Juan I. Túnez & Marcelo H. Cassini

  3. Organización PROFAUNA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Juan I. Túnez & Marcelo H. Cassini

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  1. Humberto L. Cappozzo
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  2. Juan I. Túnez
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  3. Marcelo H. Cassini
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Correspondence to Juan I. Túnez.

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Cappozzo, H.L., Túnez, J.I. & Cassini, M.H. Sexual harassment and female gregariousness in the South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens . Naturwissenschaften 95, 625–630 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0363-2

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