Spatiotemporal use of lairs by ringed seals ( Phoca hispida)
Thirteen ringed seals monitored by radiotelemetry in the shore-fast ice of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas were faithful to subnivean haulout sites from March to June. Each seal frequented as many as four lairs; the distances between lairs used by individual seals were as great as 3438 m. Mean distanc...
| Published in: | Canadian Journal of Zoology |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Canadian Science Publishing
1990
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z90-350 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z90-350 |
| Summary: | Thirteen ringed seals monitored by radiotelemetry in the shore-fast ice of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas were faithful to subnivean haulout sites from March to June. Each seal frequented as many as four lairs; the distances between lairs used by individual seals were as great as 3438 m. Mean distances between lairs used by individual males and females were 1997 and 634 m, respectively. Seals were not commonly seen resting on the ice outside of lairs until late May or June, but two radio-tagged male seals began basking on 15 April and 7 May, respectively. The proportion of time spent out of the water was 12.1% in March, 18.6% in April, 21.9% in May, and 42.9% in early June. From late March to June, males were out of the water during 13.1% of the monitored periods, and females were out of the water during 24.0% of those periods. Mean hours of haulout bouts were between 18:00 and 02:30 in early spring (except for a lactating female who hauled out most frequently at 11:00) and between 10:00 and 16:30 in late spring. |
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