New Zealand Fur Seal Foraging Site Fidelity from Satellite Tracking

Australian research tracked 31 lactating New Zealand fur seals via satellite over 14–108 day foraging trips to compare site fidelity between continental shelf and oceanic habitats. The dataset includes 37 trips from 11 shelf-foraging females and 65 trips from 20 oceanic-foraging females, with overlap metrics calculated on a 5x5 km grid. Parks Australia provides this record to highlight research relevant to Australian Marine Parks.

Use Cases

• Modeling individual foraging site fidelity based on overlap percentages in 5x5 km grid cells.
• Comparing habitat use patterns between continental shelf and oceanic foragers based on trip duration and location data.
• Analyzing the relationship between oceanographic features like coastal upwellings and animal movement patterns.
• Studying central place foraging theory in marine mammals using consecutive trip tracking data.

Strengths

• Includes tracking data from 31 individual seals over 102 total foraging trips.
• Provides quantified overlap metrics (55.9% ± 20.4% for shelf vs. 13.4% ± 7.6% for oceanic) for consecutive trips.
• Compares two distinct habitat types (continental shelf vs. oceanic) within the same study.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified; last metadata update was 2026-07-16.

Provenance

Source

Parks Australia, referencing a source publication.

Collection Method

Satellite tracking of 31 lactating New Zealand fur seals over consecutive foraging trips.

Time Range

Study period not specified; data covers trips of 14–108 days.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-16 22:49:11.438028; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Likely waters around New Zealand and Australia, focusing on continental shelf and oceanic habitats.