Body growth of 137 female southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) over 1 year of age was investigated at subantarctic Macquarie Island. An asymptotic straight line, snout-tail body length of 2.57±0.03 m was estimated to be attained at 9years of age, using a three-parameter Gompertz equation. A significant increase of approximately 0.1 m (5%) in mean body length of females between 1 and 10 years of age was estimated to have occurred between the 1950-1960s and 1990s at Macquarie Island. This is consistent with a reduction in both the rate of population decline and the age of onset of sexual maturity. Age determination using dental cementum layers and the importance of standardised measurements in pinniped growth studies are discussed. © Springer-Verlag 2005.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Earth Sciences
Research Group:	Oceanography
Research Field:	Physical oceanography
Objective Division:	Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards
Objective Group:	Understanding climate change
Objective Field:	Climate variability (excl. social impacts)
UTAS Author:	Bell, CM (Dr Cameron Bell)
UTAS Author:	Lea, MA (Professor Mary-Anne Lea)
UTAS Author:	Hindell, MA (Professor Mark Hindell)
ID Code:	34650
Year Published:	2005
Web of Science® Times Cited:	12
Deposited By:	Zoology
Deposited On:	2005-08-01
Last Modified:	2006-05-02
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