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Aquatic bird predation by antarctic and subantarctic pinnipeds vagrants off argentina
Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic pinnipeds are well-known seasonal visitors of the Southwest Atlantic Ocean. According to the literature, at their breeding grounds, they feed mainly on a variety of fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. During the non-breeding period and far away from its breeding colonies,...
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Published in: | Polar biology 2024-08, Vol.47 (8), p.793-800 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic pinnipeds are well-known seasonal visitors of the Southwest Atlantic Ocean. According to the literature, at their breeding grounds, they feed mainly on a variety of fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. During the non-breeding period and far away from its breeding colonies, little is known about their feeding habits. Here, we present records of predation on aquatic birds by Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic pinnipeds off northern Argentinian coast (37°27′ S, 57°06′ W to 41°50' S 65°02' W). We examined the gastrointestinal contents of 22 specimens of three pinnipeds species (
Arctocephalus gazella
[n = 10],
A. tropicalis
[n = 11] and
Hydrurga leptonyx
[n = 1]) collected from 1996 to 2023. Aquatic birds remains were found in the gastrointestinal tracts of three individuals (13.64%): two
A. gazella
and one
H. leptonyx
. We identified feathers, and other bird parts by comparing them to specimens from scientific collections and descriptions/illustrations from the literature. Two of the three aquatic birds found in the gastrointestinal tracts were most probably Magellanic Penguins (
Spheniscus magellanicus
), whereas the other one was a Great grebe (
Podiceps major
). To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting predation on aquatic birds by Antarctic pinnipeds far from their breeding colonies. |
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ISSN: | 0722-4060 1432-2056 |
DOI: | 10.1007/s00300-024-03271-8 |