Cooperative Hunting Behavior of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) in Whatcom Creek

Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are a well-studied marine mammal, particularly in downtown Bellingham Whatcom Creek through an ongoing undergraduate research program that was started in 2011. While the hunting behavior and the threat of individual seals on fish populations has largely been studied, harbor seal social behavior in Whatcom creek has not seen as much attention. Past data was sorted and organized, then separated into independent hunting events to analyze the hunting success of individuals relative to different sizes of groups of harbor seals. Cooperative hunting was found to occur in the study system, but it was unclear what, if any, benefit the harbor seals incurred from the behavior. Much further research and analysis should be performed to fully understand the question.