New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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BIRTH OF ELEPHANT SEAL (MIROUNGA LEONINA) IN NEW ZEALAND

L. D. Bowring
B. Stonehouse

Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch

Abstract The first recorded birth of a Southern Elephant seal Mirounga leonina on the New Zealand mainland occurred on 5 November 1967. Though less than half the weight of Macquarie I. neonates, the pup (a male) developed normally and left early in March 1968.

Southern Elephant seals breed socially on most islands of the southern cold temperate and subantarctic zones (Scheffer 1958) including Antipodes, Campbell, Auckland, and Macquarie Islands, but not on the New Zealand mainland, although stragglers (including marked animals from Macquarie I.) occur frequently.

Received for publication 27 May 1968

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (86K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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