Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
What a jerk: prey engulfment revealed by high-rate, super-cranial accelerometry on a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina). / Ydesen, Kristina S; Wisniewska, Danuta Maria; Hansen, Janni D; Beedholm, Kristian; Johnson, Mark; Madsen, Professor Peter Teglberg.
In: Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 217, 2014, p. 2239-2243.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - What a jerk: prey engulfment revealed by high-rate, super-cranial accelerometry on a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina)
AU - Ydesen, Kristina S
AU - Wisniewska, Danuta Maria
AU - Hansen, Janni D
AU - Beedholm, Kristian
AU - Johnson, Mark
AU - Madsen, Professor Peter Teglberg
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - A key component in understanding the ecological role of marine mammal predators is to identify how and where they capture prey in time and space. Satellite and archival tags on pinnipeds generally only provide diving and position information, and foraging is often inferred to take place in particular shaped dives or when the animal remains in an area for an extended interval. However, fast movements of the head and jaws may provide reliable feeding cues that can be detected by small low-power accelerometers mounted on the head. To test this notion, a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) was trained to wear an OpenTag (sampling at 200 or 333 Hz with ±2 or ±16 g clipping) on its head while catching fish prey in front of four underwater digital high-speed video cameras. We show that both raptorial and suction feeding generate jerk (i.e. differential of acceleration) signatures with maximum peak values exceeding 1000 m s−3. We conclude that reliable prey capture cues can be derived from fast-sampling, head-mounted accelerometer tags, thus holding a promising potential for long-term studies of foraging ecology and field energetics of aquatic predators in their natural environments
AB - A key component in understanding the ecological role of marine mammal predators is to identify how and where they capture prey in time and space. Satellite and archival tags on pinnipeds generally only provide diving and position information, and foraging is often inferred to take place in particular shaped dives or when the animal remains in an area for an extended interval. However, fast movements of the head and jaws may provide reliable feeding cues that can be detected by small low-power accelerometers mounted on the head. To test this notion, a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) was trained to wear an OpenTag (sampling at 200 or 333 Hz with ±2 or ±16 g clipping) on its head while catching fish prey in front of four underwater digital high-speed video cameras. We show that both raptorial and suction feeding generate jerk (i.e. differential of acceleration) signatures with maximum peak values exceeding 1000 m s−3. We conclude that reliable prey capture cues can be derived from fast-sampling, head-mounted accelerometer tags, thus holding a promising potential for long-term studies of foraging ecology and field energetics of aquatic predators in their natural environments
KW - Harbour seal
KW - Pinniped
KW - Accelerometry
KW - foraging ability
KW - Feeding
KW - Jerk
KW - Tag
U2 - 10.1242/jeb.100016
DO - 10.1242/jeb.100016
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 24737765
VL - 217
SP - 2239
EP - 2243
JO - BRITISH JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
JF - BRITISH JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
SN - 0022-0949
ER -