Adjustment of diving behaviour with prey encounters and body condition in a deep diving predator: the Southern Elephant Seal

Summary Optimal diving models have been developed to investigate how air‐breathing predators should adjust their diving behaviour to optimize their foraging efficiency. Using time‐depth recorders and 3D accelerometers, we addressed this question on six free‐ranging Southern Elephant Seal ( SES ) females equipped on Kerguelen Island. We hypothesize that seals would initially increase their foraging time with distance to the foraging patches...