Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T03:15:00.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

First report on a newborn grey seal pup (Halichoerus grypus) in the Danish Wadden Sea since the 16th Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2015

Lasse Fast Jensen*
Affiliation:
Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Tarphagevej 2, DK-6710 Esbjerg V, Denmark
Anders Galatius
Affiliation:
Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
Jonas Teilmann
Affiliation:
Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L.F. Jensen, Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Tarphagevej 2, DK-6710 Esbjerg V, Denmark email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

During an aerial survey on 30 December 2014 in the Danish Wadden Sea, a newborn grey seal pup (Halichoerus grypus) with umbilical cord was observed at a sandbank located north of the island Rømø together with the mother. This is the first report in the scientific literature on grey seals breeding in the Danish Wadden Sea since the species disappeared from the area in the 16th Century.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abt, K. and Engler, J. (2009) Rapid increase of the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) breeding stock at Helgoland. Helgoland Marine Research 63, 177180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abt, K.F., Hoyer, N., Koch, L. and Adelung, D. (2002) The dynamics of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) off Amrum in the south-eastern North Sea – evidence of an open population. Journal of Sea Research 47, 5567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasseur, S., Borchardt, T., Czeck, R., Jensen, L.F., Galatius, A., Ramdohr, S., Siebert, U. and Teilmann, J. (2011) Aerial surveys of grey seals in the Wadden Sea in the season of 2010–2011 – Continued growth, through birth and immigration. Annual Report, Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG), Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 1 pp.Google Scholar
Brasseur, S., Borchardt, T., Czeck, R., Jensen, L.F., Galatius, A., Ramdohr, S., Siebert, U. and Teilmann, J. (2012) Aerial surveys of Grey Seals in the Wadden Sea in the season of 2011–2012 – Increase in Wadden Sea grey seals continued in 2012. Annual Report, Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG), Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 2 pp.Google Scholar
Brasseur, S., Czeck, R., Diederichs, B., Galatius, A., Jensen, L.F., Körber, P., Siebert, U., Teilmann, J. and Klöpper, S. (2014) Grey Seal surveys in the Wadden Sea and Helgoland in 2013–2014 – Grey seal population recovered after decrease. Annual Report, Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG), Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 3 pp.Google Scholar
Brasseur, S., Diederichs, B., Czeck, R., Jensen, L.F., Galatius, A., Ramdohr, S., Siebert, U., Teilmann, J., Körber, P. and Klöpper, S. (2013) Aerial surveys of Grey Seals in the Wadden Sea in the season of 2012–2013 – mixed messages. Annual Report, Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG), Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 2 pp.Google Scholar
Brasseur, S., Reijnders, P., Borchardt, T., Siebert, U., Ramdohr, S., Czeck, R., Körber, P., Jensen, L.F. and Teilmann, J. (2010) Aerial surveys of grey seals in the Wadden Sea in the season of 2009–2010 – Fewer animals during the moult, more pups. Annual Report, Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG), Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 1 pp.Google Scholar
Brasseur, S., Reijnders, P., Borchardt, T., Siebert, U., Ramdohr, S., Stede, M., Jensen, L.F. and Teilmann, J. (2009) Aerial surveys of grey seals in the Wadden Sea in the seasons of 2007–2008 and 2008–2009. Annual Report, Trilateral Seal Expert Group (TSEG), Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, Wilhelmshaven, Germany, 2 pp.Google Scholar
Brasseur, S.M.J.M., van Polanen Petel, T.D., Gerrodette, T., Meesters, E.H.W.G., Reijnders, P.J.H. and Aarts, G. (2015) Rapid recovery of Dutch gray seal colonies fueled by immigration. Marine Mammal Science 31, 405426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Czeck, R. and Paul, M. (2008) Grey seals – a homecoming species in the Wadden Sea. Senckenbergiana Maritima 38, 143146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabricius, O. (1791) Udførlig Beskrivelse over de grønlandske sæle, Første og Andet Stykke [detailed description of the seals of Greenland, Parts 1 and 2]. Copenhagen: Skrivter af naturhistorie-Selskabet, 1(1), iv: pp. 79–157 + 1(2), viii: pp. 73–170.Google Scholar
Härkönen, T., Brasseur, S., Teilmann, J., Vincent, C., Dietz, R., Abt, K. and Reijnders, P. (2007) Status of grey seals along mainland Europe from the Southwestern Baltic to France. NAMMCO Scientific Publications 6, 5768.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Härkönen, T., Harding, K.C. and Heide-Jørgensen, M.P. (2002) Rates of increase in age-structured populations: a lesson from the European harbour seals. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80, 14981510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConnell, B.J., Beaton, R., Bryant, E., Hunter, C., Lovell, P. and Hall, A.J. (2004) Phoning home – a new GSM mobile phone telemetry system to collect mark-recapture data. Marine Mammal Science 20, 274283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeroy, P.P., Anderson, S.S., Twiss, S.D. and McConnell, B.J. (1994) Dispersion and site fidelity of breeding male grey seals on North Rona, Scotland. Journal of Zoology 233, 683693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeroy, P.P., Redman, P.R., Ruddell, S.J.S., Duck, C.D. and Twiss, S.D. (2005) Breeding site choice fails to explain interannual associations of female grey seals. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 57, 546556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radford, P.J., Summers, C.F. and Young, K.M. (1978) A statistical procedure for estimating grey seal pup production from a single census. Mammal review 8, 3542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reijnders, P.J.H., van Dijk, J. and Kuiper, D. (1995) Recolonization of the Dutch Wadden Sea by the grey seal Halichoerus grypus. Biological Conservation 71, 231235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheibel, W. and Weidel, H. (1988) Vorkommen von Kegelrobben (Halichoerus grypus Fabricius, 1791, Phocidae, Pinnipedia) in Schleswig-Holstein. Zoologischer Anzeiger 220, 6570.Google Scholar
Twiss, S., Pomeroy, P.P. and Anderson, S.S. (1994) Dispersion and site fidelity of breeding male grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) on North Rona, Scotland. Journal of Zoology London 233, 683693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar