Elephant seal oil cargoes from King Island, Bass Strait, 1802-1819: with estimates of numbers killed and size of the original population

• Published in: Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania
• Main Author: Ling, JK
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Royal Society of Tasmania; RST; Van Diemens Land; natural history; science; ecology; taxonomy; botany; zoology; geology; geography; papers & proceedings; Australia; UTAS Library; King Island; Elephant Seal; Elephant Seals; Mirounga leonina; Southern Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://eprints.utas.edu.au/13609/; https://eprints.utas.edu.au/13609/4/1999_Ling_Elephant_rst.pdf

Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) were harvested for their oil at King Island, Bass Strait, from 1802 to 1819, by which time they were virtually extinct at that location and have not returned since. Oil cargo statistics have been collated from various secondary sources; in arriving at annua...