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Science 30 June 1995:
Vol. 268. no. 5219, pp. 1897 - 1899
DOI: 10.1126/science.268.5219.1897
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Articles

Evidence for Mate Fidelity in the Gray Seal

Bill Amos 1, Sean Twiss 2, Paddy Pomeroy 3, and Sheila Anderson 3

1 Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK.
2 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK.
3 Sea Mammal Research Unit, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OE7, UK.

Colonially breeding gray seals are polygynous. Males are larger than females, compete with each other for position among aggregated females, and contribute no parental care. Genetic analysis of pups born on the island of North Rona, Scotland, reveals large numbers of full siblings, although dominant males father disproportionately few of these. This result cannot be explained by mating patterns based solely on male dominance and the spatio-temporal organization of the breeding colony. Instead, many full siblings must result from choices favoring previous parental combinations. Thus, polygyny and partner fidelity appear to operate simultaneously in this breeding colony.

Submitted on November 16, 1994
Accepted on May 5, 1995


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The evolution of reproductive systems in pinnipeds.
M. H. Cassini (1999)
Behav. Ecol. 10, 612-616
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A multivariate analysis of phenotype and paternity in male harbor seals, Phoca vitulina, at Sable Island, Nova Scotia.
D. W. Coltman, W. D. Bowen, and J. M. Wright (1999)
Behav. Ecol. 10, 169-177
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)