202 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 68 



Table 39. — Sea otters tagged at Amchitka Island, Alaska 



Juvenile Adult Total 



Tag 



Year numbers d" 9 ? cf $ 



1956-- EL 401-409 i 11—439 



1957 - EL 12908 and 12910 2 1 _ _ 1 _ 2 



1959 - 12901-12903; 12926- 



13000; 3 EL 426, 427, 25 21 — 9 31 86 



429-431, 433, 440-442, 



and 444. 



1962- - EL 446-565 27 34 — 16 43 120 



1963 EL 566-572 4 2 1 — — 7 



Total 58 58 1 30 77 224 



1 This series sheep-ear size. 



2 This series cattle-ear size. The high numbers (12,000 to 13,000) are the result of using 

 tag remainders from Pribilof fur seal series. The prefix EL was hand stamped on only a few. 

 The tags were obtained from the National Band and Tag Company, Newport, Ky. 



^ Except two ruined. 



one animal was recovered at a hauling-out place, and one color- 

 marked individual was observed repeatedly. 



Two hundred and eight of the animals were captured and tagged 

 at nine traditional hauling-out areas; the remaining 16 were 

 marked at scattered locations on Amchitka Island. Three hauling- 

 out areas are on the Bering Sea coast, five are on the Pacific coast, 

 and one is at East Cape where the Bering Sea and Pacific coasts 

 meet. The minimum distance between the hauling grounds used as 

 tagging locations is 1 mile and the maximum distance is 9 miles. 

 Eight animals tagged at one hauling-out place were subsequently 

 recaptured at the next nearest one. 



Three females, tagged as adults and recovered nearly 3 years 

 later, were found 2.5, 2.5, and 5 miles, respectively, from the 

 locations of tagging. One female recovered 2 years after tagging 

 was % mile from the location of tagging. Two females recovered 

 about 1 year after tagging were 2.5 and 2 miles from the location 

 of tagging and two others were recovered at the location of 

 tagging. 



One young adult male, whose tag bore a colored plastic flag, 

 was observed repeatedly. This animal visited the location where 

 we discarded fish remains in Constantine Harbor, near Kirilof 

 Dock. He was present daily for a period of about a month and a 

 half. He became tame and was captured by hand when he came 

 ashore to accept food. Because of the artificial food source, the 

 sedentary behavior of this animal may not represent the normal 

 behavior of the adult male. One juvenile male, tagged at East Cape, 

 was found dead 24 days later in Constantine Harbor, 9 miles from 

 the location of marking. Among five juvenile males, recovered 

 within a month of tagging, however, only one was as far as 3 

 miles from the tagging location. 



