Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella)
Twinning in natural pinniped populations is often inferred from observations of suckling behavior, but this approach has been criticized because nonfilial nursing occurs at high frequencies in many seal species. Consequently, we used 9 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers to examine the parenta...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jmammal:90/3/621 2023-05-15T13:31:05+02:00 Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) Hoffman, Joseph I. Forcada, Jaume 2009-06-02 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/90/3/621 https://doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-264R1.1 en eng Oxford University Press http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/90/3/621 http://dx.doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-264R1.1 Copyright (C) 2009, Oxford University Press Feature Articles TEXT 2009 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-264R1.1 2015-02-28T17:44:38Z Twinning in natural pinniped populations is often inferred from observations of suckling behavior, but this approach has been criticized because nonfilial nursing occurs at high frequencies in many seal species. Consequently, we used 9 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers to examine the parentage of 11 putative pairs of twins in Antarctic fur seals ( Arctocephalus gazella ) breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia. Only 3 pairs (27%) were found to be genuine twins, indicating that suckling observations are an unreliable means of identifying twins in this species. All of the twins were female; 1 pair was monozygotic and the other 2 were dizygotic. Using a strict exclusion approach, paternity was assigned to the monozygotic but not the dizygotic twins. However, likelihood tests revealed that, of the latter, 1 pair was significantly more likely to be full siblings against the null of half sibship suggesting shared paternity, whereas the other pair was more likely to be half siblings against the null of full sibship indicating probable multiple paternity. Our results provide novel insights into the reproductive ecology of fur seals and also support an earlier study showing that molecular genetic analysis can provide an effective means of validating field observations of pinniped twins. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals Arctocephalus gazella Bird Island HighWire Press (Stanford University) Antarctic Bird Island ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) Journal of Mammalogy 90 3 621 628 |
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Open Polar |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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fthighwire |
language |
English |
topic |
Feature Articles |
spellingShingle |
Feature Articles Hoffman, Joseph I. Forcada, Jaume Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) |
topic_facet |
Feature Articles |
description |
Twinning in natural pinniped populations is often inferred from observations of suckling behavior, but this approach has been criticized because nonfilial nursing occurs at high frequencies in many seal species. Consequently, we used 9 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers to examine the parentage of 11 putative pairs of twins in Antarctic fur seals ( Arctocephalus gazella ) breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia. Only 3 pairs (27%) were found to be genuine twins, indicating that suckling observations are an unreliable means of identifying twins in this species. All of the twins were female; 1 pair was monozygotic and the other 2 were dizygotic. Using a strict exclusion approach, paternity was assigned to the monozygotic but not the dizygotic twins. However, likelihood tests revealed that, of the latter, 1 pair was significantly more likely to be full siblings against the null of half sibship suggesting shared paternity, whereas the other pair was more likely to be half siblings against the null of full sibship indicating probable multiple paternity. Our results provide novel insights into the reproductive ecology of fur seals and also support an earlier study showing that molecular genetic analysis can provide an effective means of validating field observations of pinniped twins. |
format |
Text |
author |
Hoffman, Joseph I. Forcada, Jaume |
author_facet |
Hoffman, Joseph I. Forcada, Jaume |
author_sort |
Hoffman, Joseph I. |
title |
Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) |
title_short |
Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) |
title_full |
Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) |
title_fullStr |
Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Genetic Analysis of Twinning in Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) |
title_sort |
genetic analysis of twinning in antarctic fur seals (arctocephalus gazella) |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/90/3/621 https://doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-264R1.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-38.060,-38.060,-54.004,-54.004) |
geographic |
Antarctic Bird Island |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Bird Island |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals Arctocephalus gazella Bird Island |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals Arctocephalus gazella Bird Island |
op_relation |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/90/3/621 http://dx.doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-264R1.1 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2009, Oxford University Press |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-264R1.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Mammalogy |
container_volume |
90 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
621 |
op_container_end_page |
628 |
_version_ |
1766015907925065728 |