INVESTIGADORES
FAZIO Ana
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Kelp gulls attack southern right whales to feed on their skin and blubber
Autor/es:
M. BERTELLOTTI; A. FAZIO
Lugar:
Puerto Madryn
Reunión:
Workshop; Southern right whale die-off Workshops; 2010
Institución organizadora:
Comisión Ballenera Internacional (IWC) y Cancillería
Resumen:
Kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) is a generalist and opportunist species that mainly feed on invertebrates and fish, but also includes garbage and fishery discards. However, in the Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) breeding areas at Península Valdés, Argentina, kelp gulls feed on pieces of skin and blubber that rip from whale?s backs, producing severe injuries. This behavior has increased since the first record in 1972, the same as gull population. During reproductive whale season 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, we made 1559 trips in whale watching boats from Puerto Pirámides, Chubut. A total of 5703 sighting of whales were recorded, where amount of whales and gulls and the number of attacks were registered. Attack rate was similar among years with a mean of 4.50 attacks/h (SD=17.91, N=5703). But it varied along the whale breeding season (Kruskal-Wallis: X26=147.7, P