Ontogeny of movement patterns in naïve grey seal pups inhabiting a complex continental shelf ecosystem

Most vertebrate offspring must transition from the relative security of parental care (nutrition and protection) to independent foraging. Offspring face many challenges during this critical period, particularly in species where parental care ends at weaning, such as the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus). We studied the development of movement behaviour in naïve grey seal pups from their first trips to sea to about five months of age. Twenty-five (12 males and 13 females) newly-weaned pups were fitted with satellite-linked GPS tags on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada in January 2016. The influence of fixed effects (pup size, sex, week) and the random effect of pup identity on trip characteristics were examined. Movement behaviour was analyzed using a move persistence mixed-effects model. Habitat use was highly variable among individuals and covered much of the geographic distribution of the population. Unlike older juveniles, subadults, and adults in this population, most naïve pups used m..., , , ## DFO Sable Island Grey Seal Pup Project

Twenty-five newly-weaned pups were fitted with satellite-linked GPS tags on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada in January 2016. We studied the development of movement behaviour in naïve grey seal pups from their first trips to sea to about five months of age. We explored the influence of intrinsic factors on the trip characteristics and move persistence of grey seal pups and how their movement behaviour changed over time.

## Description of the data and file structure

The data for this project includes two files:
(1) 2016PupDeployments-PupData.csv

This file includes the biometric data collected on grey seal pups selected for inclusion in this study with the following columns:

DeployID - unique identifier for each individual grey seal included in the study
PTTID - Argos Platform Transmission Terminal identifier, which is a unique number identifying each Mk10-AF Fastloc GPS tag
SerialNo - serial number for each Mk10-AF Fastloc GPS tag
Cohort - ...