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Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios

Foraging behaviours used by two female Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) were documented during controlled feeding trials. During these trials the seals were presented with prey either free-floating in open water or concealed within a mobile ball or a static box feeding device....

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Autores principales: Hocking, David P., Salverson, Marcia, Fitzgerald, Erich M. G., Evans, Alistair R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4229231/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25390347
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112521
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author Hocking, David P.
Salverson, Marcia
Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.
Evans, Alistair R.
author_facet Hocking, David P.
Salverson, Marcia
Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.
Evans, Alistair R.
author_sort Hocking, David P.
collection PubMed
description Foraging behaviours used by two female Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) were documented during controlled feeding trials. During these trials the seals were presented with prey either free-floating in open water or concealed within a mobile ball or a static box feeding device. When targeting free-floating prey both subjects primarily used raptorial biting in combination with suction, which was used to draw prey to within range of the teeth. When targeting prey concealed within either the mobile or static feeding device, the seals were able to use suction to draw out prey items that could not be reached by biting. Suction was followed by lateral water expulsion, where water drawn into the mouth along with the prey item was purged via the sides of the mouth. Vibrissae were used to explore the surface of the feeding devices, especially when locating the openings in which the prey items had been hidden. The mobile ball device was also manipulated by pushing it with the muzzle to knock out concealed prey, which was not possible when using the static feeding device. To knock prey out of this static device one seal used targeted bubble blowing, where a focused stream of bubbles was blown out of the nose into the openings in the device. Once captured in the jaws, prey items were manipulated and re-oriented using further mouth movements or chews so that they could be swallowed head first. While most items were swallowed whole underwater, some were instead taken to the surface and held in the teeth, while being vigorously shaken to break them into smaller pieces before swallowing. The behavioural flexibility displayed by Australian fur seals likely assists in capturing and consuming the extremely wide range of prey types that are targeted in the wild, during both benthic and epipelagic foraging.
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spelling pubmed-42292312014-11-18 Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios Hocking, David P. Salverson, Marcia Fitzgerald, Erich M. G. Evans, Alistair R. PLoS One Research Article Foraging behaviours used by two female Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) were documented during controlled feeding trials. During these trials the seals were presented with prey either free-floating in open water or concealed within a mobile ball or a static box feeding device. When targeting free-floating prey both subjects primarily used raptorial biting in combination with suction, which was used to draw prey to within range of the teeth. When targeting prey concealed within either the mobile or static feeding device, the seals were able to use suction to draw out prey items that could not be reached by biting. Suction was followed by lateral water expulsion, where water drawn into the mouth along with the prey item was purged via the sides of the mouth. Vibrissae were used to explore the surface of the feeding devices, especially when locating the openings in which the prey items had been hidden. The mobile ball device was also manipulated by pushing it with the muzzle to knock out concealed prey, which was not possible when using the static feeding device. To knock prey out of this static device one seal used targeted bubble blowing, where a focused stream of bubbles was blown out of the nose into the openings in the device. Once captured in the jaws, prey items were manipulated and re-oriented using further mouth movements or chews so that they could be swallowed head first. While most items were swallowed whole underwater, some were instead taken to the surface and held in the teeth, while being vigorously shaken to break them into smaller pieces before swallowing. The behavioural flexibility displayed by Australian fur seals likely assists in capturing and consuming the extremely wide range of prey types that are targeted in the wild, during both benthic and epipelagic foraging. Public Library of Science 2014-11-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4229231/ /pubmed/25390347 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112521 Text en © 2014 Hocking et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hocking, David P.
Salverson, Marcia
Fitzgerald, Erich M. G.
Evans, Alistair R.
Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios
title Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios
title_full Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios
title_fullStr Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios
title_full_unstemmed Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios
title_short Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) Use Raptorial Biting and Suction Feeding When Targeting Prey in Different Foraging Scenarios
title_sort australian fur seals (arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) use raptorial biting and suction feeding when targeting prey in different foraging scenarios
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4229231/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25390347
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112521
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