REVIEW ARTICLE


Direct At-Sea Observations of Elephant Seals (Mirounga spp.) to Help Interpret Digital Bio-logging Data



John van den Hoff1, *, Sam Thalmann2
1 Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, 7050, Tasmania, Australia
2 Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, GPO Box 44, Hobart, 7001, Tasmania, Australia


© 2020 John & Sam

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at: Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, 7050, Tasmania, Australia; Email: john_van@aad.gov.au


Abstract

Background:

A key short-fall with animal-borne bio-logging instruments, which collect digital time-series data regarding the foraging behaviours of cryptic marine mammal species, is validating those data against in situ behaviours.

Objective:

To collate direct observations of elephant seal feeding behaviour to help interpret foraging behaviours inferred from Time-Depth Recorder (TDR) data.

Methods:

Direct observations of elephant seal foraging behaviour were collated from the published literature using a search of the world-wide-web. Those observations were supplemented with an unpublished record.

Results:

Two deep-sea video recordings and six surface sightings of elephant seals ingesting prey were collated. Each observation either supported or suggested an alternative to behaviours derived from digital time-depth profiles. The tendency for elephant seals to surface following the capture of large prey suggests precipitous drops in stomach temperature at the sea-surface, which have been recorded and interpreted as drinking events, more likely represent the ingestion of large prey items.

Conclusion:

Direct observations of marine mammal foraging behaviours are rare, yet they provide a means to continuously evaluate and interpret outcomes of bio-logging instruments.

Keywords: Bio-logging, Foraging behaviour, Marine mammal, Stomach temperature, Time-depth recorder, Elephant seals (Mirounga spp.).