Large sensory volumes enable Southern elephant seals to exploit sparse deep-sea prey

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 120; no. 43; p. e2307129120
• Main Authors: Chevallay, Mathilde, Goulet, Pauline, Madsen, Peter T, Campagna, Julieta, Campagna, Claudio, Guinet, Christophe, Johnson, Mark P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 24.10.2023
• Subjects: Animal biology; Animals; Aquatic mammals; Biological Sciences; Cetacea; Deep scattering layers; Deep sea; Echolocation; Ecology, environment; Feeding Behavior; Female; Foraging behavior; Hunting; Life Sciences; Mirounga leonina; Movement; Predatory Behavior; Prey; Seals; Seals (animals); Seals, Earless; Swimming; Symbiosis; Vertebrate Zoology; Visual stimuli; deep-diving predators; mesopelagic zone; prey detection; biologging; bio-logging

The ability of echolocating toothed whales to detect and classify prey at long ranges enables efficient searching and stalking of sparse prey in these time-limited dives. However, nonecholocating deep-diving seals such as elephant seals appear to have much less sensory advantage over their prey. Bot...