Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.)
François Péron’s quite detailed observations of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.), at King Island, Tasmania, in December 1802, are considered in the light of current knowledge of this species. Acute observations of the elephant seal and its behaviour, as well as remarks about its lif...
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:23592 2023-05-15T14:04:48+02:00 Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.) Ling, JK 2015 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/23592/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/23592/7/03%20Ling.pdf en eng https://eprints.utas.edu.au/23592/7/03%20Ling.pdf Ling, JK 2015 , 'Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.),' , Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, vol. 149 , pp. 13-21 , doi:10.26749/rstpp.149.13 <http://dx.doi.org/10.26749/rstpp.149.13>. cc_utas 210000 Science - General 260100 Geology Historical ecology François Péron Southern Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina King Island Article PeerReviewed 2015 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.26749/rstpp.149.13 2020-05-30T07:38:15Z François Péron’s quite detailed observations of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.), at King Island, Tasmania, in December 1802, are considered in the light of current knowledge of this species. Acute observations of the elephant seal and its behaviour, as well as remarks about its life history, which appears to have differed slightly from that observed recently at sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, the nearest current breeding site, were recorded. There is a suggestion that the breeding season at King Island may have been earlier than where Southern Elephant Seals now occur in the sub-Antarctic, possibly due to King Island being closer to the equator. Péron noted that Aborigines at Port Jackson called them Mirourong, from which their current generic name was derived, and they still frequent this coast. He does not mention seeing small immature elephant seals at King Island in December when this age class hauls out to moult on Macquarie Island. The presence then of (probably exaggeratedly) large males again suggests that the annual cycle at King Island may have been in advance of that observed at Macquarie Island today. Péron’s growth rates were far in excess of those now known for the species anywhere: how he arrived at them he does not record; possibly this and other information was related to him by the sealers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Antarctic King Island ENVELOPE(-58.100,-58.100,-62.000,-62.000) Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 149 13 21 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
English |
topic |
210000 Science - General 260100 Geology Historical ecology François Péron Southern Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina King Island |
spellingShingle |
210000 Science - General 260100 Geology Historical ecology François Péron Southern Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina King Island Ling, JK Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.) |
topic_facet |
210000 Science - General 260100 Geology Historical ecology François Péron Southern Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina King Island |
description |
François Péron’s quite detailed observations of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.), at King Island, Tasmania, in December 1802, are considered in the light of current knowledge of this species. Acute observations of the elephant seal and its behaviour, as well as remarks about its life history, which appears to have differed slightly from that observed recently at sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, the nearest current breeding site, were recorded. There is a suggestion that the breeding season at King Island may have been earlier than where Southern Elephant Seals now occur in the sub-Antarctic, possibly due to King Island being closer to the equator. Péron noted that Aborigines at Port Jackson called them Mirourong, from which their current generic name was derived, and they still frequent this coast. He does not mention seeing small immature elephant seals at King Island in December when this age class hauls out to moult on Macquarie Island. The presence then of (probably exaggeratedly) large males again suggests that the annual cycle at King Island may have been in advance of that observed at Macquarie Island today. Péron’s growth rates were far in excess of those now known for the species anywhere: how he arrived at them he does not record; possibly this and other information was related to him by the sealers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ling, JK |
author_facet |
Ling, JK |
author_sort |
Ling, JK |
title |
Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.) |
title_short |
Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.) |
title_full |
Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.) |
title_fullStr |
Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.) |
title_sort |
historical ecology: a critique of françois péron’s account of southern elephant seals, mirounga leonina (linn.) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/23592/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/23592/7/03%20Ling.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.100,-58.100,-62.000,-62.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic King Island |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic King Island |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Macquarie Island Mirounga leonina Southern Elephant Seals |
op_relation |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/23592/7/03%20Ling.pdf Ling, JK 2015 , 'Historical ecology: a critique of François Péron’s account of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina (Linn.),' , Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, vol. 149 , pp. 13-21 , doi:10.26749/rstpp.149.13 <http://dx.doi.org/10.26749/rstpp.149.13>. |
op_rights |
cc_utas |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26749/rstpp.149.13 |
container_title |
Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania |
container_volume |
149 |
container_start_page |
13 |
op_container_end_page |
21 |
_version_ |
1766276122963607552 |