Breaking_the_fast_data_access

Southern elephant seals experience a ’catastrophic molt‘, a costly event characterized by the renewal of both hair and epidermis that requires high peripheral vascular circulation. Molting animals are constrained by high metabolic heat loss and are thought to fast and remain on land. This study investigates the stomach temperature and movement patterns of molting female southern elephant seals, to examine the ability of individuals to balance the energetic constraints of molting on land. We investigated if weather conditions influenced this behavior and the consequences on females body condition before their next departure to sea.