Table 21. — Sealskins collected for experimental 

 use, St, Paul Island, 1958 and 1961-65 



1965, the tube tags were fastened with monel 

 wire. The monel wire, however, reacted with 

 processing chemicals to produce a localized 

 greenish stain on the skin and nnake the guard 

 hair difficult to rennove. A nylon line will be 

 used for attaching tags in the future. 



Skin samples from themidback of 48 fennales 

 were collected on St. Paul Island 9 Novennber 

 1964 to augment a study of 17 sannples des- 

 cribed by Scheffer and Johnson (1963). As ex- 

 pected, nnolt was most advanced in the younger 

 animals. Molt was ending or had ended in 10 

 seals age 3 and 4 and was in various stages near 

 nnidmolt in 15 seals, age 10 and older. 



Radionuclides in Seal Teeth 



In 1964, evidence of a radioactive substance 

 (strontiunn 90?) was found in the 1962-63 layer 

 of root substance of two fur seal teeth (Roppel, 

 Johnson, Anas, and Chapman, 1965). The right 

 upper canine teeth from 24 seals born in 1957 

 but killed in different years (2 males and 2 

 fennales at each of ages 1-6) were sectioned 

 in 1965 and placed on Kodak^ Nuclear Track 

 Plates, Type NTB2, 25 Microns, for 133 days. 

 All specimens had been taken at sea between 

 California and Alaska. The results were nega- 

 tive; autoradiographs did not appear on the 

 developed plates. 



Seal Behavior 



Richard S. Peterson studied the behavior of 

 fur seals on St. Paul Island, nnainly fromi an 

 observation hut on Kitovi Rookery, during the 

 sunnmers of 1961-63. His findings were re- 

 ported inadoctoral thesis (Peterson, 1965), one 

 page of which is reproduced as figure 14 of 

 this report. 



Rookery Charts 



Photocopies of 13 charts of the Pribilof 

 rookeries as they appeared in the sunnmer of 



^Trade names referred to in this publication do not 

 imply endorsement of commercial products. 



Figure 14.— Counts of territorial bulls, nursing females, 

 pups, and nonbreeders, average of 3 years, Kitovi 

 Rookery study area, St. Paul Island, 1961-63 (after 

 Peterson, 1965). 



1897 were obtained from the National Archives. 

 The charts, which were based on a survey by 

 the Will Ward Duffield party, were published in 

 May-June 1898 as Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 Nos. 3215 to 3228 (except No. 3224, which is a 

 chart of St. George Island). Upon the photo- 

 copies will be entered the location of tripods, 

 catwalks, numbered rocks, camera stations, 

 and study plots (such as the plots for counting 

 dead pups). 



We plan to photograph the Pribilof rookeries 

 from the air in mid-July 1967. The rookeries 

 were last photographed from the air in 1958. 



SUMMARY 

 Males 



1. of 41,268 male seals killed on the 

 Pribilof Islands in 1965, 40,367 were taken 

 during the kill of males from 7 July to 9 August 

 and 901 were taken during the kill of females 

 16-27 August. St. Paul Island supplied 34,112 

 seals and St. George Island, 7,156. Age clas- 

 sification of 33,632 males killed on St. Paul 

 Island was: age 2, 4 percent; age 3, 56 per- 

 cent; age 4, 36 percent; and age 5, 4 percent. 

 Age classification of 6,735 males killed on 

 St. George Island was: age 2, 2 percent; age 

 3, 56 percent; age 4, 38 percent; age 5, 3 

 percent; and age 6; 1 percent. Age was not 

 determined for 901 males killed on the Pribilof 

 Islands. Most of the male seals killed were 

 from 42 inches long (tip of nose to tip of tail) 

 up to, but not including, those having a mane. 

 The peak of the kill occurred 27-31 July when 

 6,032 males were taken on St. Paul Island. 

 The minimum length was removed 22-26 July 

 so that all available 2-year-old males could be 

 killed. The abundance of 2-year-old males on 

 land in late July may be related to return of 

 the year class the following year at age 3. A 

 total of 854 males older than those normally 

 taken were killed for testing the commercial 

 value of their skins. 



2. The predicted kill of males on St, Paul 

 Island in 1965 included 33,000 of age 3 and 



22 



