At surface behaviour of juvenile and female southern elephant seals from King George Island from expeditions JUB1996 and JUB1997

The tracks of the weaners contrasted with those of the adults. In January, five juveniles left King George Island for the Pacific sector ranging about four weeks in the open sea west of the De Gerlache Seamounts. Three of them returned to the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in June, of which one was last located on the Patagonian Shelf in November 1997.

A computer animation was developed to visualize the animal movements in relation to the extent and concentration of sea ice. The juveniles avoided sea ice while the adults did not. The latter displayed behavioural differences in using the pack ice habitat during winter.

Some females adjusted their movement patterns to the pulsating sea ice fringe in far-distant foraging areas while others ranged in closed pack ice of up to 100 %. The feeding grounds of adult female elephant seals are more closely associated with the pack ice zone than previously assumed.