Coprophagic behaviour of southern giant petrels ( Macronectes giganteus ) during breeding period
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Coprophagic behaviour of southern giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus) during breeding period Denyelle Hennayra Corá1 · Júlia Victória Grohmann Finger2 · Lucas Krüger3 Received: 27 February 2020 / Revised: 21 September 2020 / Accepted: 25 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Southern giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus) are opportunistic generalists whose feeding strategies include hunting, scavenging and fishing. While seals are important for southern giant petrels as a source of carrion, we documented that live seals also provide feeding opportunities for southern giant petrels. We tracked breeding southern giant petrels from Harmony Point, Antarctica, during incubation and chick rearing with solar-powered GPS-UHF devices. Tracking results showed that animals often visited confirmed haul-out sites of seals, mainly Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii). Feeding on seal faeces was confirmed by direct observation. Southern giant petrels were more likely to visit haul-out sites during incubation than during chick-rearing. This behaviour suggests that the birds fed on seal faeces mainly when fasting, which could last as long as 15 days. Seal faeces could be a resource consumed to quickly recover from the fast before leaving for a longer trip. Keywords Antarctica · coprophagy · diet · foraging
Introduction Breeding is an energetically demanding activity during which seabirds invest great effort in successfully raising a chick (Markones et al. 2009). Scavenging on fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella), Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) and southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) carcasses and placentas provides an important source of food during breeding for giant petrels (Macronectes spp.), especially during the post-hatching period (Hunter 1984; de Bruyn et al. 2007). Carcasses also play an important role in the growth and survival of chicks due to their high energetic and nutritional value (de Bruyn et al. 2007). However, living seals can also provide feeding resources for giant petrels. Casaux et al. (1997) briefly described southern giant petrels * Lucas Krüger [email protected] 1
Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó, Curso de Ciências Biológicas, Servidão Anjo da Guarda, 295‑D, Chapecó, SC, Brazil
2
Laboratório de Ornitologia e Animais Marinhos, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Av. Unisinos, 950, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil
3
Instituto Antártico Chileno, Plaza Muñoz Gamero, 1055 Punta Arenas, Chile
(M. giganteus) gathering around hauled-out Weddell seals at Harmony Point (Nelson Island, Maritime Antarctic Peninsula) to feed upon faeces and regurgitations. They suggested that this source of food should be further inspected, as many diet items recorded for southern giant petrels could have been consumed through scavenging on Weddell seal scat and vomit. In this study, we quantified the incursions of southern giant petrels tracked with GPS to areas where Weddell and elephant seals haul out to rest or moult at Harmony Poi
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