The Enigmatic Life History of the Australian Sea Lion

McIntosh, Rebecca R.; Pitcher, Benjamin J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-59184-7_26

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 106 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Australian sea lion have a prolonged pupping season that can last up to nine months (Ling and Walker 1978;McIntosh and Pitcher 2021), thus pups of different age classesshowing different body size and fur color pattern -can occur at the same time in the colony.…”

Section: Visual Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using this framework, our team undertook experimental investigations of the motherpup recognition processes in a colonial pinniped species, the Australian sea lion Neophoca cinerea. This species has a unique breeding cycle among pinnipeds and mammals, as they do not breed annually but every 18 months, with breeding colonies being asynchronous (Marlow 1975;McIntosh and Pitcher 2021). Like all otariid species, females nurse only their filial pup, reject any non-filial pup, and leave their pup only a few days after parturition to forage at sea.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Mother–pup recognition mechanisms in Australia sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) using uni- and multi-modal approaches

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Communication is the process by which one emitter conveys information to one or several receivers to induce a response (behavioral or physiological) by the receiver. Communication plays a major role in various biological functions and may involve signals and cues from different sensory modalities. Traditionally, investigations of animal communication focused on a single sensory modality, yet communication is often multimodal. As these different processes may be quite complex and therefore difficult to disentangle, one approach is to first study each sensorial modality separately. With this refined understanding of individual senses, revealing how they interact becomes possible as the characteristics and properties of each modality can be accounted for, making a multimodal approach feasible. Using this framework, researchers undertook systematic, experimental investigations on mother-pup recognition processes in a colonial pinniped species, the Australian sea lion Neophoca cinerea. The research first assessed the abilities of mothers and pups to identify each other by their voice using playback experiments. Secondly they assessed whether visual cues are used by both mothers and pups to distinguish them from conspecifics, and / or whether females discriminate the odor of their filial pup from those from non-filial pups. Finally, to understand if the information transmitted by different sensory modalities is analyzed synergistically or if there is a hierarchy among the sensory modalities, experiments were performed involving different sensory cues simultaneously. These findings are discussed with regards to the active space of each sensory cue, and of the potential enhancements that may arise by assessing information from different modalities.

show abstract

Section: Visual Discriminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mother–pup recognition mechanisms in Australia sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) using uni- and multi-modal approaches

2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Further, the species’ fecundity is low because of female reproduction commencing at 4.5–6.0 years of age, extended non-annual breeding seasons 17–18-months apart, and high mortality among the 2,700 pups born each breeding season ( 14 – 17 ). Ultimately, pup mortality is the major contributor to individuals not reaching breeding age – a progressive increase in age-specific survival apparent in older cohorts, reaching a plateau in early adulthood ( 18 ). A high proportion of pup deaths occur in the first few weeks of life, most often attributed to conspecific trauma, starvation ( 19 ), and the direct and indirect impact of endemic hookworm ( Uncinaria sanguinis ) infection ( 20 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating disease risk in an endangered pinniped: early hookworm elimination optimizes the growth and health of Australian sea lion pups

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) experiences high pup mortality of seasonally alternating severity, partly attributed to endemic hookworm (Uncinaria sanguinis) infection. To further explore health outcomes of early hookworm elimination, a treatment trial was conducted at Seal Bay Conservation Park, South Australia, over consecutive lower and higher mortality breeding seasons (2019, 19.2%; 2020–1; 28.9%). Pups (n = 322) were stratified into two age cohorts (median 14 d and 24 d recruitment ages) and randomly assigned to treated (topical ivermectin 500 μg/kg) or control (untreated) groups. A younger prepatent cohort <14 d old (median 10 d) was identified a posteriori. A seasonally independent growth benefit resulted from hookworm elimination across all age cohorts. The greatest relative improvements (bodyweight + 34.2%, standard length + 42.1%; p ≤ 0.001) occurred in the month post-treatment, in the youngest prepatent cohort. A significant benefit of lesser magnitude (bodyweight + 8.6–11.6%, standard length + 9.5–18.4%; p ≤ 0.033) persisted up to 3 months across all age cohorts – greatest in the youngest pups. Treatment resulted in immediate improvement in hematological measures of health – decreased anemia and inflammation severity (p ≤ 0.012). These results enhance our understanding of host–parasite–environment interactions within the context of hematological ontogenesis, confirm the seasonally independent benefits of hookworm disease intervention, and further inform conservation recommendations for this endangered species.

show abstract

The Enigmatic Life History of the Australian Sea Lion

Cited by 2 publications

References 106 publications

Mother–pup recognition mechanisms in Australia sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) using uni- and multi-modal approaches

Mother–pup recognition mechanisms in Australia sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) using uni- and multi-modal approaches

Mitigating disease risk in an endangered pinniped: early hookworm elimination optimizes the growth and health of Australian sea lion pups

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About