Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland
Concerns have recently been raised as to whether small harbour seal pups found alone are genuine 'orphans', i.e. pups permanently separated from their mother. We present records of body mass and behaviour of pups live-stranding on the coast of north-east Ireland, between 1995 and 2016. Pup...
Published in: | Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy |
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2021
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530804/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/bioe.2021.03 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:530804 2023-05-15T16:33:35+02:00 Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland Wilson, Susan C. Jones, Kayleigh A. 2021-04-22 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530804/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/bioe.2021.03 unknown Royal Irish Academy Wilson, Susan C.; Jones, Kayleigh A. orcid:0000-0001-9509-5185 . 2021 Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 121B (1). 9-20. https://doi.org/10.3318/BIOE.2021.03 <https://doi.org/10.3318/BIOE.2021.03> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.3318/BIOE.2021.03 2023-02-04T19:52:24Z Concerns have recently been raised as to whether small harbour seal pups found alone are genuine 'orphans', i.e. pups permanently separated from their mother. We present records of body mass and behaviour of pups live-stranding on the coast of north-east Ireland, between 1995 and 2016. Pup data were divided into three categories according to stranding date: period A from late May to 19 July (pupping period; 66 records), period B from 20 July to mid-August (late lactation and weaning period; 14 records) and period C from mid-August to the following January (14 records). Pup body mass averaged 8.8kg, 9.5kg and 14.5kg in periods A, B and C, respectively. Most pups in periods A and B were at or less than the average birth weight of similar to 11kg. Pre-stranding and stranding behaviours were video-recorded at haul-out sites for ten pups during period A and one during period B. The body mass and behaviour of pups considered to be orphans were compared with healthy 'lone' pups more than ten days of age, whose mothers were temporarily absent. The observations suggest that orphans may be identified-and distinguished from healthy lone pups-according to body size, location, behaviour and stranding date. Article in Journal/Newspaper harbour seal Phoca vitulina Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Lone ENVELOPE(11.982,11.982,65.105,65.105) Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 121B 1 9 |
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Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
unknown |
description |
Concerns have recently been raised as to whether small harbour seal pups found alone are genuine 'orphans', i.e. pups permanently separated from their mother. We present records of body mass and behaviour of pups live-stranding on the coast of north-east Ireland, between 1995 and 2016. Pup data were divided into three categories according to stranding date: period A from late May to 19 July (pupping period; 66 records), period B from 20 July to mid-August (late lactation and weaning period; 14 records) and period C from mid-August to the following January (14 records). Pup body mass averaged 8.8kg, 9.5kg and 14.5kg in periods A, B and C, respectively. Most pups in periods A and B were at or less than the average birth weight of similar to 11kg. Pre-stranding and stranding behaviours were video-recorded at haul-out sites for ten pups during period A and one during period B. The body mass and behaviour of pups considered to be orphans were compared with healthy 'lone' pups more than ten days of age, whose mothers were temporarily absent. The observations suggest that orphans may be identified-and distinguished from healthy lone pups-according to body size, location, behaviour and stranding date. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wilson, Susan C. Jones, Kayleigh A. |
spellingShingle |
Wilson, Susan C. Jones, Kayleigh A. Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland |
author_facet |
Wilson, Susan C. Jones, Kayleigh A. |
author_sort |
Wilson, Susan C. |
title |
Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland |
title_short |
Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland |
title_full |
Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland |
title_fullStr |
Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland |
title_sort |
body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in co. down, north-east ireland |
publisher |
Royal Irish Academy |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530804/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3318/bioe.2021.03 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(11.982,11.982,65.105,65.105) |
geographic |
Lone |
geographic_facet |
Lone |
genre |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
op_relation |
Wilson, Susan C.; Jones, Kayleigh A. orcid:0000-0001-9509-5185 . 2021 Body mass and behaviour of stranded harbour seal (Phoca vitulina vitulina) pups during the peak pupping season in Co. Down, north-east Ireland. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 121B (1). 9-20. https://doi.org/10.3318/BIOE.2021.03 <https://doi.org/10.3318/BIOE.2021.03> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3318/BIOE.2021.03 |
container_title |
Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy |
container_volume |
121B |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
9 |
_version_ |
1766023275340627968 |