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16 August 2011 Bacular and testicular growth and allometry in the ringed seal (Pusa hispida): evidence of polygyny?
David J. Yurkowski, Magaly Chambellant, Steven H. Ferguson
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

We determined ringed seal (Pusa hispida) bacular and testicular growth relationships and made interspecific comparisons to species with better-known mating systems to elaborate on current hypotheses about the mating system of the ringed seal. We measured 161 bacula, 251 pairs of testes, and 55 mandibles collected from ringed seals of known age from Inuit subsistence harvests in Arviat and Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, Canada, from 2003 to 2006. Ringed seal bacular and testicular sizes were positively allometric relative to mandibular size for immature males (<7 years of age) but increased isometrically in mature males (≥7 years of age), similar to relationships between bacular size and body length for known polygynous pinnipeds. Adult isometric growth contrasted with harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus), a promiscuous species, in which bacular size likely is sexually selected. Our results, combined with previously reported ecological and behavioral ringed seal characteristics, suggest that ringed seals display a polygynous mating system.

American Society of Mammalogists
David J. Yurkowski, Magaly Chambellant, and Steven H. Ferguson "Bacular and testicular growth and allometry in the ringed seal (Pusa hispida): evidence of polygyny?," Journal of Mammalogy 92(4), 803-810, (16 August 2011). https://doi.org/10.1644/10-MAMM-A-082.1
Received: 12 March 2010; Accepted: 1 February 2011; Published: 16 August 2011
KEYWORDS
allometry
baculum
growth
mating system
Polygyny
ringed seal
testicle
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