Antarctic Fur Seal

Antarctic fur seals are mammals. This means that they are warm-blooded animals. Their scientific name is Arctocephalus gazella.

Antarctic fur seals are quite large animals. The adult fur seal ranges from one hundred and seventy to two hundred centimetres tall.  The bull (male fur seal) is approximately ninety to two hundred kilograms in weight. The cows (female fur seal) weight is between twenty to fifty one kilograms.  Pups (baby seals) are sixty to seventy centimetres tall at birth and weigh five to six kilograms. The back sides of the adults are grey to brownish with creamy throat and chest and a dark gingery ventral. These seals have slanted eyes, small ears and thick soft fur. The thick soft coat helps insulate their body from the cold ice. Males have manes with a lot of white hairs, which give the males a grizzled look. Male Antarctic fur seals are called bulls,  female Antarctic fur seals are called cows, and baby seals are called pups. Pups are very dark brown or black.

Antarctic fur seals live in an extremely cold condition. They need something in their body or on their body to stay warm. For example, the fish in the Antarctic oceans have antifreeze in their body which helps them stay warm and their blood not to freeze when there is severe coldness. Antarctic fur seals have a thick coat of blubber (fat), which keeps them very warm.

Antarctic fur seals mainly feed on krill, but also takes fish, squid and birds. Feeding dives occur mainly at night, between eight and nine at night and at two to three in the morning. In diving bouts, the seal make about nineteen dives per hour. All dives are shallow. Twenty-one to thirty metres, is the maximum recorded dive by an Antarctic seal.

Antarctic fur seals mature at different ages. The cows usually become mature at the age of three to four, and on the other hand, the bulls mature at six to seven years of age.

Antarctic fur seals main breeding area is in South Geoargia. Other breeding colonies can be found on the South Sandwich Islands, Bouvetya, South Shetland, Marlon Island, Heard, Mcdonald Isalands and possibly on Kerguelen. These species breed sympathetically with Arctocephalus tropicalis and may be competing for space and food. The pregnancy rate for Antarctic fur seals is unknown. These species do not migrate.

Antarctic fur seals are found on the islands south of the Antarctic convergence and north of sixty five degrees latitude. Fur seals flock together on the shore and shingle beaches to breed. Everyday there are fights between male fur seals and female fur seals on the beach whether who is first on land. The fight usually ends with blood flowing from the skin. Some fights usually end up with males dead or passed out.

Males live just over thirteen years. Females live just over twenty three years. The bulls (males) stake out their own territory on the beach and defend it. They breed with the cows (females) on the territory. The females are much luckier than the males.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jaap/furseals.htm

Brasch, N. (2001) Antarctica. Port Melbourne: Heinemann Library.

Gough, S. (1992) Creatures of the Antarctic. Melbourne: Rigby.