%0 Journal Article
%T Injuries of Webs on the Feet of South Polar Skuas Catharacta Maccormicki: Results of Studying Active Obliged Aggregations
%J American Journal of Life Sciences
%@ 2328-5737
%D 2018
%X South polar skuas (Catharacta maccormicki) (further SPS) gravitate toward human activities in the Antarctic. They form active obliged aggregations (further AOA) in places of utilization of kitchen waste and enter into numerous aggressive interactions among themselves. Objective: to establish the possible role of the AOA obtaining leg injuries by SPS and the influence of human activity in this process. The investigations were carried out at the Russian Antarctic station Mirny (66£¿33'11" S, 93£¿00'35" E, Haswell archipelago, Davis Sea, East Antarctica). 13.01-30.03.2015-26.10.2015-11.01.2016 the feeding behavior of skuas was recorded in the video mode on camera Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX220 Black. The total length of the analyzed video is 2308 minutes 40 seconds. Out of the 97 SPS captured and examined, 33 individuals (34%) had 54 cases of web injuries ¡ª 35 (64.81%) cuts and 19 (35.19%) punctures. Among 1374 aggressive contacts between skuas, evidence of damage to the webs on their feet in the analyzed sample was not registered and the probability of damage to the membranes was less than 0.2% at CI = 95%, that is, it was close to "0". This number was not extrapolated to the whole life cycle of the SPS. The difficulty of extrapolation lies in the absence of the quantitative data on the total number of aggressive interactions of SPS in its annual cycle and the changes to this number in the course of the whole life cycle of an individual. There is also no opportunity obtain the data on the aggressive behavior of the skua around the natural food sources to compare with that around the anthropogenic food sources. The aforementioned factors were conducive only to partial goal achievement
%K South Polar Skua
%K Injuries
%K Aggressive Interactions
%K Human Activity
%U http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=118&doi=10.11648/j.ajls.20180605.12