Fecundity, Survival and Site Fidelity in Weddell Seals, Leptonychotes weddelli

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Age-specific fecundity data are presented for 17 yr of tagging and recapture of Weddell seals at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands [southern Atlantic Ocean]. Minimum age of 1st pupping was 2 yr, mean age was 4-5 yr and among females recaptured at age 9 yr and over 94% were with pups. These results are similar to those obtained from studies at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, between 1966 and 1968 but substantially different from values obtained there between 1970 and 1974. The biases inherent in the techniques used in the 3 studies are evaluated. The mean annual survival of females that have pupped once at Signy was 0.80, in close agreement with McMurdo results. Signy breeding cows are not distributed independently of the location of their previous breeding sites. There is no indication that pups tend to return to breed at their natal site. Weddell seal and crabeater seal [Lobodon carcinophagus] population parameters are contrasted, and although diet may be important in establishing some differences in population structure and dynamics, juvenile mortality levels are probably also significant.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: