New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Re-assessment of the status of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in New Zealand
ROWLAND H. TAYLOR
GRAEME A. TAYLOR
Ecology Division
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
Private Bag, Nelson, New Zealand
Abstract The history, distribution and numbers of southern elephant seals
(Mirounga leonina) in New Zealand are reviewed, The small populations that breed on Campbell and Antipodes Islands, and the very few that occasionally pup on the New Zealand mainland, are part of the larger Macquarie Island stock. A comparison of recent and earlier counts has revealed a 97% reduction in the breeding population at Campbell Island since 1947. There has been a decline in the number and size of breeding harems, and in pup production: from 191 pups in 1947 down to 5 in 1986. Little is known of the Antipodes Island population but, with 113 pups in 1978, this may now be the main breeding population in New Zealand. Breeding populations at Macquarie Island, and at many other locations throughout the subantarctic zone of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, have also recently declined. Reasons for these changes are unknown, but possible causal factors in the marine environment are discussed.
Keywords Southern elephant seal; Mirounga leonina; Phocidae; New Zealand region; Campbell Island; Antipodes Island; breeding status; population decline
Received 15 February 1988; accepted 3 August 1988
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1989, Vol. 23: 201-213 0028-8330/2302-0201$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1989 Received 15 February 1988; accepted 3 August 1988
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1058K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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