Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals
This work was funded by Marine Scotland (http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Publications/TopicSheets/MSScience, project: MMS001/11) and additionally supported by National Capability funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/) to the Sea Mammal Research Unit (grant n...
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/8958 2024-04-28T08:30:53+00:00 Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals Brownlow, Andrew Onoufriou, Joseph Bishop, Amanda Davison, Nicholas Thompson, Dave University of St Andrews. School of Biology University of St Andrews. Sea Mammal Research Unit University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute 2016-06-09T16:30:03Z 14 1012616 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8958 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 eng eng PLoS One 243306954 d7fc791f-2dc9-4e10-b3bc-54d2515030c8 84973596493 000377218700032 Brownlow , A , Onoufriou , J , Bishop , A , Davison , N & Thompson , D 2016 , ' Corkscrew seals : grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals ' , PLoS One , vol. 11 , no. 6 , e0156464 , pp. 1-14 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 1932-6203 RIS: urn:654A4916F3F3D96DCEFEC5CD4BFDA94A ORCID: /0000-0003-1546-2876/work/56862210 https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8958 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 QH301 Biology DAS QH301 Journal article 2016 ftstandrewserep https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 2024-04-09T23:33:08Z This work was funded by Marine Scotland (http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Publications/TopicSheets/MSScience, project: MMS001/11) and additionally supported by National Capability funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/) to the Sea Mammal Research Unit (grant no. SMRU1001). Large numbers of dead seals with characteristic spiral lesions have been washing ashore around the North Atlantic over the past two decades. Interactions with ship propellers and shark predation have been suggested as the likely causal mechanisms. However, new evidence points towards a more likely candidate: grey seal predation. An adult male grey seal was observed and recorded catching, killing and eating five weaned grey seal pups over a period of one week on the Isle of May, Scotland. A further 9 carcasses found in the same area exhibited similar injuries. Post mortem analysis of lesions indicated the wound characteristics were similar to each other and in 12 of the 14 carcasses analysed, were indistinguishable from carcasses previously attributed to propeller interaction. We therefore propose that most of the seal carcasses displaying spiral lacerations in the UK are caused by grey seal predation. Cases in other locations should be re-evaluated using the scoring system presented here to identify whether grey seal predation is a major cause of mortality in phocid seals. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository PLOS ONE 11 6 e0156464 |
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Open Polar |
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University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
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ftstandrewserep |
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English |
topic |
QH301 Biology DAS QH301 |
spellingShingle |
QH301 Biology DAS QH301 Brownlow, Andrew Onoufriou, Joseph Bishop, Amanda Davison, Nicholas Thompson, Dave Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals |
topic_facet |
QH301 Biology DAS QH301 |
description |
This work was funded by Marine Scotland (http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Publications/TopicSheets/MSScience, project: MMS001/11) and additionally supported by National Capability funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/) to the Sea Mammal Research Unit (grant no. SMRU1001). Large numbers of dead seals with characteristic spiral lesions have been washing ashore around the North Atlantic over the past two decades. Interactions with ship propellers and shark predation have been suggested as the likely causal mechanisms. However, new evidence points towards a more likely candidate: grey seal predation. An adult male grey seal was observed and recorded catching, killing and eating five weaned grey seal pups over a period of one week on the Isle of May, Scotland. A further 9 carcasses found in the same area exhibited similar injuries. Post mortem analysis of lesions indicated the wound characteristics were similar to each other and in 12 of the 14 carcasses analysed, were indistinguishable from carcasses previously attributed to propeller interaction. We therefore propose that most of the seal carcasses displaying spiral lacerations in the UK are caused by grey seal predation. Cases in other locations should be re-evaluated using the scoring system presented here to identify whether grey seal predation is a major cause of mortality in phocid seals. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
University of St Andrews. School of Biology University of St Andrews. Sea Mammal Research Unit University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brownlow, Andrew Onoufriou, Joseph Bishop, Amanda Davison, Nicholas Thompson, Dave |
author_facet |
Brownlow, Andrew Onoufriou, Joseph Bishop, Amanda Davison, Nicholas Thompson, Dave |
author_sort |
Brownlow, Andrew |
title |
Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals |
title_short |
Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals |
title_full |
Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals |
title_fullStr |
Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Corkscrew seals : grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals |
title_sort |
corkscrew seals : grey seal (halichoerus grypus) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8958 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
PLoS One 243306954 d7fc791f-2dc9-4e10-b3bc-54d2515030c8 84973596493 000377218700032 Brownlow , A , Onoufriou , J , Bishop , A , Davison , N & Thompson , D 2016 , ' Corkscrew seals : grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) infanticide and cannibalism may indicate the cause of spiral lacerations in seals ' , PLoS One , vol. 11 , no. 6 , e0156464 , pp. 1-14 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 1932-6203 RIS: urn:654A4916F3F3D96DCEFEC5CD4BFDA94A ORCID: /0000-0003-1546-2876/work/56862210 https://hdl.handle.net/10023/8958 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156464 |
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PLOS ONE |
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11 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e0156464 |
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