|
|
Adult male Antarctic
fur seals can weigh up to 200kg, adult females about 40 kg, and
pups weigh 3-7 kg at birth.
Antarctic fur
seals breed mainly on sub-Antarctic islands, including South Orkney,
South Shetland, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Bouvet, Iles Kerguelen,
Heard, Marion, Iles Crozet, and Macquarie.
Male Antarctic fur seals (bulls) establish territories by fighting with other males. The dominant males each control a portion of beach from the water's edge to the line of vegetation. Territorial bulls give off a strong musk smell during the breeding season. Females are not gathered into harems, and choose a place on the beach. The males then discourage the females from moving to other male territories. Pups are born from late November to early January and are suckled for about 4 months.
Some fur seals
feed mainly on krill, while others feed mainly on fish and squid.
They can dive to more than 100m, but generally dive to around
30m. They stay underwater for 2 to 5 minutes.
Antarctic fur seal pup. You can see the ear flaps: these are 'eared seals'
Elephant
seals...Leopard
seals...Weddell Seals...Crabeater seals
Click
here to see photos of Antarctic seals
If you use any part of this,
acknowledge it in your bibliography like this:
Antarctic
Animals (2002).
[Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
| Back to Antarctic Seals | Back to Antarctic Animals | Back to Antartica |
Updated July 2007