Aggregation of mummified adult crabeater seals (Pinnipedia: Phocidae) in the eastern Antarctic Peninsula: age and sex structure, taphonomy and cause of death

• Published in: Antarctic science Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 274 - 280
• Main Authors: Negrete, Javier, Soibelzon, Leopoldo h., Soibelzon, Esteban, Márquez, María E.I., Loza, Cleopatra M., Acosta, Walter, Lusky, Jorge, Pecoraro, Marcelo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Biological Sciences; Caniformia; Morbillivirus; Phocidae; Pinnipedia; Seals; PSW, Antarctica, Antarctic Peninsula; PS, Antarctica; marine mammal stranding; seal disorientation; Seymour Island; virology; Lobodon carcinophaga
• ISSN: 0954-1020; 1365-2079
• DOI: 10.1017/S0954102014000741

In Antarctica, crabeater seals tend to strand as immature animals with disorientation, due to their inexperience, given as the probable cause. In 2012 and 2013, we examined a group of 80 mummified crabeater seals on Seymour Island (Marambio). The age and gender of 28 seals was determined, and virolo...