Figure 5.

Progesterone concentrations in the proximal band of ringed seal claws extracted using the ‘Grind+Mill’ method. Seals were identified as either non-pregnant (n = 5) or pregnant (n = 9) at time of death based on observation of a fetus or an embryonic implant site. Claw progesterone concentrations were significantly higher comparing seals that were pregnant at time of death to seals that were not. Boxplots encompass the 25% and 75% quartiles, the median value is depicted by a solid line in the middle of the gray boxes, and whiskers extend to the 10th and 90th percentiles. Outliers were not identified due to the small sample sizes.