Comportamiento agonístico en machos de elefante marino de Sur (Mirounga leonina, Carnivora, Phocidae), de la isla 25 de Mayo Antártida

NEGRETE J ; JUÁREZ M; FERRARI H; CARLINI A.R; MENUCCI J; LOZA C.M.

acta zoologica lilloana

ed de la revista

Año: 2011 p. 1 - 14

1852-6098

A b s t r a c t ? ?Agonistic behavior of male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leoninaCarnivora: Phocidae) at Isla 25 de Mayo, Antarctica?. An ethogram is a baseline tool inanimal behavioral studies. Nevertheless, for the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leoninaLinneo, 1758), a species in which males compete for access to females through agonisticencounters, the ethograms that are being used are based on literature reports, in whichbehaviors are adapted from other species or only mentioned without being described. As aresult, some of the behavioral elements of the species are still unknown. Here we present anethogram of male agonistic behavior obtained from systematic observations during threeconsecutive breeding seasons in a rookery situated in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica.It includes 27 behavioral acts, 6 of which have never been mentioned in the available literaturefor the species. This ethogram was compared to known behavioral inventories for thespecies. In addition, the frequencies of occurrence of each behavioral act were obtained forthe complete set of observed agonistic interactions. A comparison of the use of each behavioralact by males of different social classes was performed. This allowed to characterize the