Maternal Attendance and Pup Growth in Fur Seals (Arctocephalus spp.) at Macquarie and Heard Islands

• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Ocean Data Network
• Subjects: biota; oceans; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS > ISLANDS; BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CARNIVORES > SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES; MAMMALS; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > POST-BREEDING PERIODS; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; Antarctic Fur Seal; subantarctic fur seal; Breeding Colony; telemetry; maternal attendance behaviour; TELEMETER; FIELD SURVEYS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; AMD/AU; CEOS; AMD; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN; SOUTHERN OCEAN > MACQUARIE ISLAND; GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; HEARD AND MCDONALD ISLANDS; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; Heard; McDonald Islands; Antarc*; Arctocephalus gazella; Macquarie Island; walrus*
• Online Access: https://researchdata.edu.au/maternal-attendance-pup-heard-islands/2819709

Progress Code: completed Statement: Dates provided in temporal coverage are approximate only. See the publications for further information. Taken from the abstract of the referenced papers: Maternal attendance behaviour was studies in Antarctic (Arctocephalus gazella) and subantarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus tropicalis) which breed sympatrically at subantarctic Macquarie Island. Data on attendance were obtained using telemetric methods. Both species undertook two types of foraging trips: overnight foraging tips which were of less than 1 day duration and occurred exclusively overnight, and extended foraging trips which lasted longer than 1 day. The mean duration of overnight foraging trips was 0.43 and 0.39 days, while the duration of extended foraging trips was 3.6 and 3.8 days in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively. The duration of overnight and extended foraging trips did not differ significantly between species. Two types of shore attendance bouts that differed in duration were also observed in these species. Short attendance bouts lasted less than 0.9 days, while long attendance bouts lasted longer than 0.9 days. Short attendance bouts lasted 0.4 and 0.5 days, while long attendance bouts lasted 1.6 and 1.7 days in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively, and did not differ significantly between species. The most significant differences between the attendance behaviour of both species was in the percentage of foraging time allocated to overnight foraging trips (15% and 25% in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively), and the percentage of time spent ashore (30% and 38% in A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively). The nearness of pelagic waters to Macquarie Island is considered to be the main reason that lactating females are able to undertake overnight foraging trips. These trips may be used by females as a means of optimising the costs of fasting and nursing ashore. Females may be able to save energy by only nursing pups when milk transfer efficiencies are high, and reduce the time and ...