Homing Behavior of Juvenile Northern Elephant Seals

Oliver, Guy; Morris, Patricia A.; Thorson, Philip H.; Bœuf, Burney J. Le

doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.1998.tb00714.x

Cited by 56 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In fact, animals from at least three different phyla are able to relocate previously inhabited sites, including chordates, arthropods, and molluscs (Switzer, 1993). With respect to marine megafauna, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), and northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) maintain interannual site fidelity to specific seasonal habitats (Oliver et al, 1998;Wedekin et al, 2010;Anderson et al, 2011) despite undertaking long-distance migrations that span thousands of kilometers of open ocean (Le Boeuf et al, 2000;NasbyLucas and Domeier, 2012;Garrigue et al, 2015). Direct observation of the same whales, sharks, and seals in the same areas, year after year, demonstrates that all three species have well-developed navigational abilities that enable high levels of spatiotemporal movement accuracy and precision.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Route Fidelity during Marine Megafauna Migration

Horton

Hauser²,

Zerbini

et al. 2017

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The conservation and protection of marine megafauna require robust knowledge of where and when animals are located. Yet, our ability to predict animal distributions in space and time remains limited due to difficulties associated with studying elusive animals with large home ranges. The widespread deployment of satellite telemetry technology creates unprecedented opportunities to remotely monitor animal movements and to analyse the spatial and temporal trajectories of these movements from a variety of geophysical perspectives. Reproducible patterns in movement trajectories can help elucidate the potential mechanisms by which marine megafauna navigate across vast expanses of open-ocean. Here, we present an empirical analysis of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), and northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) satellite telemetry-derived route fidelity movements in magnetic and gravitational coordinates. Our analyses demonstrate that: (1) humpback whales, great white sharks and northern elephant seals are capable of performing route fidelity movements across millions of square kilometers of open ocean with a spatial accuracy of better than 150 km despite temporal separations as long as 7 years between individual movements; (2) route fidelity movements include significant (p < 0.05) periodicities that are comparable in duration to the lunar cycles and semi-cycles; (3) latitude and bedrock-dependent gravitational cues are stronger predictors of route fidelity movements than spherical magnetic coordinate cues when analyzed with respect to the temporally dependent moon illumination cycle. We further show that both route fidelity and non-route fidelity movement trajectories, for all three species, describe overlapping in-phase or antiphase sinusoids when individual movements are normalized to the gravitational acceleration present at migratory departure sites. Although these empirical results provide an inductive basis for the development of testable hypotheses and future research questions, they cannot be taken as evidence for causal relations between marine megafauna movement decisions and geophysical cues. Experiments Horton et al.Marine Megafauna Route Fidelity on model organisms with known sensitivities to gravity and magnetism, complemented by further empirical observation of free-ranging animals, are required to fully explore how animals use discrete, or potentially integrated, geophysical cues for orientation and navigation purposes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Route Fidelity during Marine Megafauna Migration

Horton

Hauser²,

Zerbini

et al. 2017

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…For each week of the study, we captured two juvenile northern elephant seals from the rookery at Año Nuevo State Reserve (San Mateo County, CA, USA). Capture and handling methods were the same as those described in Oliver et al (1998) and Le Boeuf et al (2000). Briefly, the animals were captured at Año Nuevo and transported in specially designed aluminum cages back to Long Marine Laboratory (UC Santa Cruz, CA, USA).…”

Section: Materials and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pinnipeds as ocean‐temperature samplers: calibrations, validations, and data quality

Simmons

Tremblay

Costa

2009

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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Recently marine organisms have emerged as ocean-sensing platforms, generating data useful to biologists and oceanographers. However, sensor calibrations, performance over time, and effects of behavior and sampling frequency on data quality have not been adequately examined. We performed temperature calibration trials on 36 Wildlife Computers Mk9 time-depth recorders (stated accuracy 0.1°C ± 0.05°C) versus Rosemount Model 162CE standard platinum resistance thermometer (0.001°C, ± 0.0001°C). Sixty-four percent of trials were within ± 0.1°C. Subtracting 0.05°C from all calibrations brought this to 83%. Six instruments calibrated before and after deployment on free-ranging pinnipeds, showed no significant drift in temperature measurements. Mk9 performance was tested against a Seabird © CTD (SBE-19). Root mean square (rms) difference between CTD and Mk9 temperature was 0.15°C (max. 0.45°C, min. 0.10°C). Applying a 1-s time-lag improved the data fit. To assess animal effects on thermal data, Mk9s were deployed on juvenile elephant seals released between CTD casts. Overall rms were within ± 0.1°C. Subsampling of Mk9 data revealed a sampling frequency of 10 s was sufficient to accurately resolve thermal features, e.g., thermocline depth, for these CTD experiments. We present four equations to assess temperature data quality from diving marine animals around the globe carrying different thermistors.

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“…Elephant seals also return to their own colony after being experimentally translocated about 100km. The return rate is nearly 90%, and they often follow direct routes home Oliver et al, 1998). However, it remains unknown how they guide themselves back to the colony.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underwater and surface behavior of homing juvenile northern elephant seals

Matsumura

Watanabe

Robinson

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYNorthern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, travel between colonies along the west coast of North America and foraging areas in the North Pacific. They also have the ability to return to their home colony after being experimentally translocated. However, the mechanisms of this navigation are not known. Visual information could serve an important role in navigation, either primary or supplementary. We examined the role of visual cues in elephant seal navigation by translocating three seals and recording their heading direction continuously using GPS, and acceleration and geomagnetic data loggers while they returned to the colony. The seals first reached the coast and then proceeded to the colony by swimming along the coast. While underwater the animals exhibited a horizontally straight course (mean net-to-gross displacement ratio0.94±0.02). In contrast, while at the surface they changed their headings up to 360deg. These results are consistent with the use of visual cues for navigation to the colony. The seals may visually orient by using landmarks as they swim along the coast. We further assessed whether the seals could maintain a consistent heading while underwater during drift dives where one might expect that passive spiraling during drift dives could cause disorientation. However, seals were able to maintain the initial course heading even while underwater during drift dives where there was spiral motion (to within 20deg). This behavior may imply the use of non-visual cues such as acoustic signals or magnetic fields for underwater orientation.

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Homing Behavior of Juvenile Northern Elephant Seals

Cited by 56 publications

References 27 publications

Route Fidelity during Marine Megafauna Migration

Route Fidelity during Marine Megafauna Migration

Pinnipeds as ocean‐temperature samplers: calibrations, validations, and data quality

Underwater and surface behavior of homing juvenile northern elephant seals

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