Movement patterns and activity levels are shaped by the neonatal environment in Antarctic fur seal pups.

ABSTRACT: Tracking studies of juveniles are rare compared to those of adults, and consequently little is known about the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on activity during this critical life stage. We used hourly GPS data, collected from 66 Antarctic fur seal pups from birth until moulting, to investigate the explanatory power of multiple individual-based and environmental variables on activity levels. Pups were sampled from two nearby breeding colonies of contrasting density during two subsequent years, and a two-state hidden Markov model was used to identify modalities in their movement behaviour, specifically 'active' and 'inactive' states. We found that movement was typified by central place exploration, with active movement away from and subsequent return to a location of inactivit

SUBMITTER: Nagel R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8275608 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature