140 



130 



120 



5 

 o 



z 

 llJ 



100 



90 



o PREGNANT FEMALES 



• • POST PARTUM FEMALES 



X— • — •— X NONPREGNANT FEMALES 



.J I L. 



■ ' ■ 



80' ' ' 



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 



AGE (YEARS) 



Figure 11. --Comparison of length by age of pregnant, nonpregnant, and post partum female fur seals collected in 



1962. 



remarkably uniform for all 5 years, with a 

 5-year average of 83.8 percent. The pregnancy 

 rate of all females, age 3 and over for the 

 5-year period ranged from about 63 to 79 

 percent. The 5-year average pregnancy rate 

 is 72.3 percent. 



Reproductive condition . — Tables 18, 19, and 

 20 give the reproductive condition by age, 

 area, and month of females collected in 

 western Alaska, Unimak Pass, and the Bering 

 Sea. The data for 11 females are incomplete 

 and are omitted. 



A higher percentage of nuUiparous females 

 were collected in western Alaska than Unimak 

 Pass or the Bering Sea. In May and June when 

 pregnant females were moving northward they 

 dominated the western Alaska collection. From 

 July through September, however, nulliparous 

 females were predominant. In Unimak Pass 

 and the Bering Sea, nulliparous females were 



not as abundant relatively as in western 

 Alaska. 



The majority of primiparous females were 

 taken in the Bering Sea during July, August, 

 and September. Primiparous females were 

 taken in a lesser proportion during the period 

 when pregnant females were numerous than 

 later when post partum females predominated. 

 This suggests that the sampling accuracy was 

 not the same during these periods. The young- 

 est pregnant females were three primiparous 

 4-year-olds. 



Nonpregnant multiparous females were found 

 consistently throughout the collection period in 

 all areas. They averaged a few years older 

 than the multiparous pregnant females. Multi- 

 parous pregnant females were mainly between 

 the ages of 6 and 17. The most numerous age 

 classes were 8 through 12. This is consistent 

 for the findings reported in pelagic sealing 

 reports for 1958 through 1961. 



31 



