Prey capture attempts can be detected in Steller sea lions and other marine predators using accelerometers

International audience We attached accelerometers to the head and jaw of a Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) to determine whether feeding attempts in a controlled setting could be quantiWed by acceleration features characteristic of head and jaw movements. Most of the 19 experimental feeding eve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Biology
Main Authors: Viviant, Morgane, Trites, Andrew W., Rosen, David A.S., Monestiez, Pascal, Guinet, Christophe
Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-00528158
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0750-y
Description
Summary:International audience We attached accelerometers to the head and jaw of a Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) to determine whether feeding attempts in a controlled setting could be quantiWed by acceleration features characteristic of head and jaw movements. Most of the 19 experimental feeding events that occurred during the 51 dives recorded resulted in speciWc acceleration patterns that were clearly distinguishable from swimming accelerations. The diVerential acceleration between the head-mounted and jaw-mounted accelerometers detected 84% of prey captures on the vertical axis and 89% on the horizontal axis. However, the jawmounted accelerometer alone proved to be equally eVective at detecting prey capture attempts. Acceleration along the horizontal (surge)-axis appeared to be particularly eYcient in detecting prey captures, and suggests that a single accelerometer placed under the jaw of a pinniped is a promising and easily implemented means of recording prey capture attempts.