MOVEMENTS OF SOUTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS

Twelve southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) were tracked for an average of 119 days as they left their breeding or moulting beaches on the island of South Georgia between 1990 and 1994. Females travelled either eastward up to 3000 km away to the open Southern Ocean or to th e continental shelf on or near the Antarctic Peninsula. Males either s tayed close to South Georgia or used South Georgia as a base for short er trips. The females all left South Georgia in a directed manner at a n average rate of 79.4 km/day over at least the first 15 days. Thereaf ter travel was interrupted by bouts of slower travel or stationary pha ses. The latter were localized at sites on the continental shelf or al ong its edge. Three seals that were tracked over more than one season repeated their outward direction of travel and used some of the same s ites in subsequent years. The magnitude of the movements makes most of the Southern Ocean potentially available to elephant seals.