This is a copy of a scanned document which contains a report, as well as tabulated data compiled by K. Brown on Sea Elephants (Elephant Seals) at Heard Island in 1951. The data are biological in nature, and deal with: Breeding Season 1951 Formation of the Harems Arrival of the Bulls Arrival of the Cows Birth of the Pups Lactation Moult Pup Mortality Fertilisation of the Cows Break up of the Harems Arrival of the Adolescents

Taken from the report prepared by R Kenny: In this report our comparatively brief knowledge of the Elephant Seal at Macquarie Island (based only on one year's observations) have been augmented by abstracting notes from "The Natural History of the Elephant Seal" by L. Harrison Matthews Discovery Reports, vol. 1 p. 233. 1929., based on observations at South Georgia. The Elephant Seal herds at the two islands are comparable - at South Georgia the animals had been overfished almost to the point of extinction by 1885, but were then not hunted for many years, and by 1929 had "increased in numbers till at the present time they are probably as numerous as ever", and are now fished under Government regulation to prevent extermination; the Macquarie Island herd has a similar history.

This dataset contains the results from studies of the Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina) at Macquarie Island. Results from branding surveys and photographs from 1985 onwards are reported. Numbers, life stage, sex, moult stage and migration patterns have been reported. Currently some 2000 pups a year are branded and the dataset includes birth dates, weights at birth and weaning and at 6, 12 and 18 months. This work was completed as part of ASAC (AAS) project 2265 (ASAC_2265). Objectives: To prepare research papers, from the extensive southern elephant seal dataset, that deal with key demographic parameters of the population such as size, age specific survivorship, fecundity, recruitment into the breeding population, age specific growth rates, and intrinsic rate of change of the population. In addition, later papers will investigate interannual variability in these parameters, how these relate to changing environmental conditions, and the effects of this on long term population fluctuations. To analyse and compare stable isotope ratios in the facial vibrissae of the seals and the hard parts of their prey to determine the geographical positions of the major foraging grounds of the seals. The isotope values will also allow the food webs, that support the seals, to be better defined. To measure the growth rates of elephant seal vibrissae so that changing isotope values, related to the prey and foraging areas, can be referred to particular foraging periods. Elephant seals characteristically have two separate periods of foraging: one in summer and one in winter. The positions of these episodes on a vibrissa can be identified once the growth rates of vibrissae are known. Taken from the progress report for the 2009-2010 season: Progress against objectives: 1. One paper published from the elephant seal dataset. Two papers also published during 2009/10 using data collected opportunistically during the life of this project. PhD student Andrea Walters continues to analyse the results of the whisker analyses. She has presented some of her results at the AMSA 2009 marine connectivity conference in Adelaide. An honours student has been engaged (start date March 2010) to analyse the squid component of the seals' diet. John van den Hoff spent the early summer at Macquarie Island finalising the collection of the demographic data. 2154 tag/brand resights were recorded. Collection of the data has continued on the island by Chris Oosthuizen, Ben Arthur and Iain Field since John returned to Australia. When those field workers return data collection will cease.

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 257 See the link below for public details on this project. From the abstracts of some of the referenced papers: Anatomical and physiological studies of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), particularly in the post-natal period, raise questions of relative musculature growth, control of metabolism, circulation and temperature regulation, which could be important in our understanding of these processes in mammals and of their contribution to adaptation to environmental extremes. The diving behaviour of 14 adult southern elephant seals was investigated using time depth recorders. Each of the seals performed some dives that were longer than its theoretical aerobic dive limit. Forty-four percent of all dives made by post-moult females exceeded the calculated limit compared with 7% of those made by postbreeding females and less than 1% of those made by adult males. The extended dives displayed characteristics that suggested they were predominantly foraging dives, although some were apparently rest dives. Dives longer than the calculated aerobic limits often occurred in bouts; the longest consisted of 63 consecutive dives and lasted 2 days. Postmoult females performed longer bouts of extended dives than postbreeding females. Extended surface periods (longer than 30 min) were not related to the occurrence of extended dives or bouts of extended dives. The possible physiological mechanisms that permit such prolonged continuous dives are discussed. Southern elephant seals may increase the aerobic capacity of dives by lowering their metabolism to approximately 40% of the resting metabolic rate on long dives. There is substantial interseal variability in the methods used to cope with long dives. Some animals appear to use phsyiological strategies that allow them to prolong the time available to them at the bottom of a dive, while others use alternative strategies that may limit the time available at the bottom of their dives. Fourteen time-depth-temperature recorders were recovered from adult southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) returning to Macqaurie Island to breed or moult. The resulting temperature/depth profiles indicated that all four males spent most of their time in waters lying over the Antarctic Continental Shelf, whereas only one of the ten females spent any time there. Five of the females foraged just off the Antarctic Continental Shelf, and the other five remained near the Antarctic Polar Front. 1) Mark-resight data were analysed for thirteen cohorts from a declining population of southern elephant seals branded at Macquarie Island between 1951 and 1965. 2) First year survival was essential stable during the 1950s at about 46% for females and 42% for males. There was a dramatic fall in first year survival during the 1960s, declinging to less than 2% for both sexes in 1965. Post-year-1 survival did not change between the 1950s and the 1960s. 3) Comparisons with a stable population of southern elephant seals at South Georgia indicated that both first year and adult survival were lower in the Macquarie Island population. There were no changes in the age at first breeding of the Macquarie Island seals during the study, but this was on average 1 year later than at South Georgia. 4) It is hypothesised that the current decline in elephant seal numbers at several of their major breeding islands is due to the populations returning to pre-sealing levels after they had risen to abnormally high levels with the end of commercial exploitation early this century. 5) Possible tests of the hypothesis include studying the diet and foraging behaviour of southern elephant seals to gain an understanding of the predator-prey relationships, continuing to census the Macquarie Island population to determine if the population levels out at around the estimated pre-sealing levels, and monitoring northern elephant seal populations which were also severely exploited but are currently increasing

This is a scanned copy of a register of Elephant Seal tagging data from Macquarie Island from October 1987 to March 1991.

This log contains notes and observations of whales and seals at Mawson, collected between 1979 and 1984. Included animals are Minke Whales, Killer Whales, Leopard Seals, Elephant Seals, Crabeater Seals and Fur Seals. Locations include Horseshoe Harbour, Welch Island and Giganteus Island. The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

This database is a compendium of histories of known age seals (Southern elephant) from observations across the Southern Ocean but focussed on Macquarie Island, Marion Island, Heard Island, Mawson and the Vestfold Hills. At Macquarie Island 1000 seals were weighed per annum between 1993-2003 at birth and individually marked with two plastic flipper tags in the inter-digital webbing of their hind flippers. These tagged seals were weighed again at weaning, when length, girth, fat depth, and flipper measurements were made. Three weeks after weaning 2000 seals were permanently and individually marked by hot-iron branding. Recaptures and re-weighings of these known aged individuals were used to calculate growth and age-specific survival of the seals. Similar data were collected from elephant seals between 1950 and 1965 when seals were individually marked by hot-iron branding. Mark-recapture data from these cohorts were used to assess the demography of the declining population. Length and mass data were also collected for these cohorts and were used, for the first time, to assess the growth of individual seals without killing them. At Marion Island all the elephant seals have been individually marked with two plastic flipper tags in their rear flippers. Recaptures of these seals were used to compare survival at Marion and Macquarie Islands. At Heard Island, seals were branded between 1949-1953. Seal length was measured in feet and inches. Recaptures of seals were made up until 1955, and growth and age-specific survival was calculated. Survival data from Heard Island were compared with concurrent data from Macquarie Island. The database was held by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre, but was taken offline due to maintenance problems. A snapshot of the database was taken in January 2015 and stored in an access database and several csv files. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 90.

Results from a February 2007 survey of the Vestfold Hills coastline and offshore islands for used and disused southern elephant seal wallows. The data here are point locations of the wallows, not the extents or boundaries of the wallows. The table below gives the coordinates (decimal degrees) for the elephant seal wallows found, their unofficial names and the wallow status as used or disused at the time of survey. Data were used in the 2018 Vestfold Hills/Davis Station Helicopter map: Wallow name Latitude Longitude Status Hawker Island -68.637360 77.840040 Used Hawker Island -68.634950 77.841310 Used Hawker Island -68.632180 77.841560 Used Mule Island -68.647860 77.825900 Unused Mule Island -68.646650 77.823920 Unused Zappert Point -68.505100 78.081020 Unused Old Wallow -68.598345 77.937185 Used Davis beach -68.577926 77.967032 Used Heidemann Bay -68.592067 77.945325 Used North of station -68.571916 77.971011 Used

This file contains a report of biological field work undertaken in the Casey region during 1976. It includes work done on seals and seabirds. The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.