A longitudinal study of senescence in a pinniped

To measure the prevalence of senescence in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina Linn.) at Marion Island, changes in adult-female survival and breeding probabilities with age were quantified. Mark-recapture data that had been collected over a 17-year period were analysed using recently developed software to obtain likelihood estimates of survival and capture probabilities. With recapture effort constant over the study period, capture probabilities during the breeding seasons were used as indices of breeding probabilities. Longevity in the population was assessed from the resighting of tagged and hence known-age individuals. Less than a 1% difference between prime-age survival and post prime age survival was found over 8 cohorts of marked females. In addition, no reduction in survival of very old individuals was detected, suggesting the absence of senescence in terms of reduced survival in southern elephant seals. No evidence of reproductive senescence in terms of reduced breeding probability with age was detected. Mortality throughout the population therefore resulted in no individuals surviving to the age where physiological decline would become a mortality agent or result in failure to breed. Five percent of female southern elephant seals survived to age 10 and 0.5% to age 17.