SEASONAL MOVEMENTS AND FORAGING AREAS OF ADULT SOUTHERN FEMALE ELEPHANT SEALS, MIROUNGA-LEONINA, FROM MARION ISLAND

Seasonal movements and foraging areas of postbreeding (n = 9) and post moulting (n = 3) adult southern elephant seal females from Marion Isla nd were studied using Geolocation Time-depth Recorders. Movements were classified into three phases - an outbound transit phase, distant for aging phase, and an inbound transit phase. The longest residence time of postbreeding females during their foraging migrations was in areas at the outer edge of their feeding range (+/- 1460 km) both to the nor th and south of the island, largely within inter-frontal zones south o f the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) and between the Sub-Tropical Converg ence (STC) and the Sub-Antarctic Front(SAF). Postmoulting females trav elled further afield (2122-3133 km distant) to the APF, to inter-front al zones south of the APF (within the pack ice outer edge), as well as to the Antarctic Continental Shelf. This study provides additional in formation on the putative function of dive types in relation to the mo vement phases of elephant seal females from Marion Island. The relativ e frequency of assumed 'foraging', 'exploratory' and 'transit' dive ty pes, as well as the duration and location of the different phases of m ovement suggest two seasonal foraging strategies. Sea floor topography could possibly cue the transit phases of both postbreeding and postmo ulting females from Marion Island.