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Tara Seal Research has specialised in studies of social organisation, mother-pup behaviour, pup development and juvenile play for many years. The information forms the basis of much of the recent work on seal well-being in rehabilitation and captivity.
Wilson, S.C. and Kleiman, D.G. (1974). Eliciting play: a comparative study (Octodon, Octodontomys, Pediolagus, Phoca, Choeropsis, Ailuropoda). American Zoologist 14(1): 341–370. This paper described juvenile play patterns in three species of S. American caviomorph rodents, the pigmy hippo, the giant panda and the harbour (common) seal. The focus of the paper was in he type of movement that characterises play (loose body tone, rotation head movement, exaggerated motor movement) and how body odour may elicit these movemkents, and how the play then leads to more body nosing and touching, thus reinforcing social bonds.
Some of these publications are now too old to be easily available, and so we are gradually rewriting a shortened version of these to be available on the website.
The first two papers to be rewritten formed a report in 1978 to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission ‘Social organization and behavior of harbor seals, Phoca vitulina concolor, in Maine. Report to the Marine Mammal Commission PB-280 188. Contract no. MM6AC013, April 1978. xi + 103pp. These may be downloaded below.
Wilson, S.C. (1974). Mother-young interactions in the common seal Phoca vitulina vitulina. Behaviour 48: 23–35. (Abstract only). This paper described the interactions between mother and pup of the common (harbour) seal and hw the relationship between mother and pup changes as the nursing period progresses from birth to weaning at 3–4 weeks of age. The full text of this paper is not available online (without payment), so a shortened version will be prepared to download from this page.
Wilson, S.C. (1974). Juvenile play of the common seal Phoca vitulina vitulina with comparative notes on the grey seal Halichoerus grypus. Behaviour 48: 37–60. This paper describes the play behaviour of common and grey seal juveniles. The full text of this paper is not available online (without payment), so a shortened version will be prepared to download from this page.
Wilson, S.C. (1975). Attempted mating between a male grey seal and female harbor seals. Journal of Mammalogy 56(2): 531–534. Only the first page of this paper is available online (without payment), so the remainder of he paper will be uploaded as soon as possible.
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