Growth of female southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina at Macquarie Island

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Bell, CM, Burton, HR, Lea, MA, Hindell, MA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2005
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Oceanography; Physical Oceanography; Elephant Seals; Macquarie Island; Mirounga leonina; Polar Biology; Southern Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0694-1; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/34650

Body growth of 137 female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) over 1 year of age was investigated at subantarctic Macquarie Island. An asymptotic straight line, snout-tail body length of 2.570.03 m was estimated to be attained at 9years of age, using a three-parameter Gompertz equation. A significant increase of approximately 0.1 m (5%) in mean body length of females between 1 and 10 years of age was estimated to have occurred between the 1950-1960s and 1990s at Macquarie Island. This is consistent with a reduction in both the rate of population decline and the age of onset of sexual maturity. Age determination using dental cementum layers and the importance of standardised measurements in pinniped growth studies are discussed. Springer-Verlag 2005.