Kvadsheim, Petter H., Lars P. Folkow, and Arnoldus Schytte Blix. Inhibition of shivering in hypothermic seals during diving. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 289: R326–R331, 2005. First published March 10, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00708.2004.—The mammalian response to hypothermia is increased metabolic heat production, usually by way of muscular activity, such as shivering. Seals, howeve...

Spotted seals (Phoca largha) inhabit Arctic regions that are facing both rapid climate change and increasing industrialization. While little is known about their sensory capabilities, available knowledge suggests that spotted seals and other ice seals use sound to obtain information from the surrounding environment. To quantitatively assess their auditory capabilities, the hearing of two young ...

Many animals respond to predation risk by forming groups. Evolutionary explanations for group formation in previously ungrouped, but loosely associated prey have typically evoked the selfish herd hypothesis. However, despite over 600 studies across a diverse array of taxa, the critical assumptions of this hypothesis have remained collectively untested, owing to several confounding problems in r...

Human-induced changes to habitats can have deleterious effects on many species that occupy them. However, some species can adapt and even benefit from such modifications. Artificial reefs have long been used to provide habitat for invertebrate communities and promote local fish populations. With the increasing demand for energy resources within ocean systems, there has been an expansion of infr...

SINCE May 2002, a new outbreak of phocine distemper virus (PDV) in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) has been spreading through the North Sea (Harding and others 2002, Jensen and others 2002). By late September 2002, over 17,200 dead harbour seals had been reported dead in European waters (Reineking 2002), approaching the 18,000 deaths resulting from the PDV outbreak in 1988 (Heide-Jørgensen and o...

Many diving animals undergo substantial changes in their body density that are the result of changes in lipid content over their annual fasting cycle. Because the size of the lipid stores reflects an integration of foraging effort (energy expenditure) and foraging success (energy assimilation), measuring body density is a good way to track net resource acquisition of free-ranging animals while ...

Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are final hosts of acanthocephalans in the German North and Baltic Seas. Parasitic infections in seals can cause pathological changes, which may result in deteriorated health of the host. Common gastrointestinal parasites of harbour and grey seals are acanthocephalans and a number of 275 of 2460 (11.2%) investigated seals from 1...

For over 15 years now, the efficiency and reliability of centrifugal compressors have been enhanced by the application of thermoplastic materials to the eye, shaft, and balance piston labyrinth seals. Traditionally these seals have been manufactured from metallic materials and have required relatively large clearances for reliability reasons. By upgrading to carefully selected engineered thermo...