New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Z00004Received 16 May 2000; accepted 27 September 2000
Distribution and breeding of New Zealand sea lions Phocarctos hookeri
on Campbell Island
NATHAN MCNALLY
SONJA HEINRICH*
Department of Marine Science
University of Otago
P. O. Box 56
Dunedin, New Zealand
email: mcnna098@student.otago.ac.nz
sonja_heinrich@hotmail.com
SIMON CHILDERHOUSE
Science and Research Unit
Department of Conservation
P. O. Box 10-420
Wellington, New Zealand
email: schilderhouse@doc.govt.nz
*Present address: Forsbacher Strasse 23, 51107 Köln
(Cologne), Germany.
Abstract Campbell Island is the only major breeding site for
the New Zealand sea lion Phocarctos hookeri outside the Auckland
Islands. Minimum pup production was estimated at 78 for the 1997/98 breeding
season, compared with the only previous estimate of 122 from 1991/92, and
represents less than 5% of the total pup production for the species. Sea lions
at Campbell Island have a widespread distribution, clumped at the coast and
scattered inland. Local concentrations of sea lions were seen at Davis Point,
Sandy Bay and both Northeast and Southeast Harbours. Isolated individuals were
found up to 1.5 km inland and at altitudes up to 250 m. Breeding
females at Campbell Island are generally solitary and give birth inland, in
contrast to the highly gregarious colonies seen on the coasts of the Auckland
Islands. In some years a small breeding colony forms on the coast, often at
Davis point, but its location is variable. Overall, the present distribution
and abundance of sea lions on Campbell Island does not appear to differ
considerably from previous reports stretching back as far as the 1950s. Line
transects proved inappropriate for estimating sea lion density, due to a low
encounter rate and poor visibility in dense vegetation. Future work could
include surveys for pups, which aggregate on the coast during March or April.
Keywords Phocarctos hookeri; Subantarctic; sea lion;
New Zealand; Campbell Island; survey; breeding; distribution; pup; colony;
solitary; historical
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2001, Vol. 28: 79-88
0301-4223/00/2801-0079 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New
Zealand 2001
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1140K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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