Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals
Abstract Northern elephant seals migrate long distances from feeding grounds to raise pups during a brief period on breeding beaches. Because gestation sets a parturition date months in advance, timing of the arrival must be precise; an early arrival would waste foraging time, but a late arrival wou...
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crwiley:10.1111/mms.12896 2024-05-19T07:39:43+00:00 Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals Condit, Richard Beltran, Roxanne S. Robinson, Patrick W. Crocker, Daniel E. Costa, Daniel P. Office of Naval Research University of South Alabama 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.12896 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mms.12896 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mms.12896 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/mms.12896 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Marine Mammal Science volume 38, issue 3, page 931-940 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12896 2024-04-22T07:36:22Z Abstract Northern elephant seals migrate long distances from feeding grounds to raise pups during a brief period on breeding beaches. Because gestation sets a parturition date months in advance, timing of the arrival must be precise; an early arrival would waste foraging time, but a late arrival would cause parturition failure. We used satellite‐tracked animals to examine this timing, establishing arrival and birth dates in 106 migrating females and estimating how far they traveled in the days just before birth. Females arrived a mean of 5.5 days prior to birth (range 1–11, SD = 1.5), and females arriving later in the breeding season had 1.8‐day shorter prebirth intervals relative to early arrivers. There was no correlation between female body condition, nor female age, and the prebirth interval. The last 15 days prior to birth, animals traveled as far as 1,465 km. Those farthest from the colony traveled >100 km per day, three times faster than animals near the colony at the same time. Despite migrations covering several thousand kilometers while pregnant, female elephant seals were able to time their arrival within days. This allows them to maintain a precise annual birth cycle for many years consecutively. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seals Wiley Online Library Marine Mammal Science |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
topic |
Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
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Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Condit, Richard Beltran, Roxanne S. Robinson, Patrick W. Crocker, Daniel E. Costa, Daniel P. Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals |
topic_facet |
Aquatic Science Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Northern elephant seals migrate long distances from feeding grounds to raise pups during a brief period on breeding beaches. Because gestation sets a parturition date months in advance, timing of the arrival must be precise; an early arrival would waste foraging time, but a late arrival would cause parturition failure. We used satellite‐tracked animals to examine this timing, establishing arrival and birth dates in 106 migrating females and estimating how far they traveled in the days just before birth. Females arrived a mean of 5.5 days prior to birth (range 1–11, SD = 1.5), and females arriving later in the breeding season had 1.8‐day shorter prebirth intervals relative to early arrivers. There was no correlation between female body condition, nor female age, and the prebirth interval. The last 15 days prior to birth, animals traveled as far as 1,465 km. Those farthest from the colony traveled >100 km per day, three times faster than animals near the colony at the same time. Despite migrations covering several thousand kilometers while pregnant, female elephant seals were able to time their arrival within days. This allows them to maintain a precise annual birth cycle for many years consecutively. |
author2 |
Office of Naval Research University of South Alabama |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Condit, Richard Beltran, Roxanne S. Robinson, Patrick W. Crocker, Daniel E. Costa, Daniel P. |
author_facet |
Condit, Richard Beltran, Roxanne S. Robinson, Patrick W. Crocker, Daniel E. Costa, Daniel P. |
author_sort |
Condit, Richard |
title |
Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals |
title_short |
Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals |
title_full |
Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals |
title_fullStr |
Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals |
title_sort |
birth timing after the long feeding migration in northern elephant seals |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mms.12896 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mms.12896 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/mms.12896 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/mms.12896 |
genre |
Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals |
op_source |
Marine Mammal Science volume 38, issue 3, page 931-940 ISSN 0824-0469 1748-7692 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#am http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12896 |
container_title |
Marine Mammal Science |
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1799479294494244864 |