It is the largest fur seal in the world: an adult male can weigh 360 kilos, more than a lion.
From Afro-Australian Fur Seal
The Cape Cross colony in Namibia gathers more than 200,000 animals in the breeding season, one of the largest concentrations of pinnipeds on the planet and a spectacle as impressive as it is malodorous.
From Afro-Australian Fur Seal
Almost wiped out by hunting in the 19th century, it recovered to several million animals; since then it has fallen again, and in 2025 an estimated 944,000 breeding adults remained.
From Antarctic Fur Seal
It dives deeper and for longer than any other fur seal: there are records of dives exceeding 300 metres and fifteen minutes.
From New Zealand Fur Seal
Its pups gather to play in the pools of coastal streams, sometimes more than a kilometre inland, and some of those waterfalls have become tourist attractions on the South Island.
From New Zealand Fur Seal
Isla de Lobos, off Punta del Este, holds one of the largest colonies in the world: for more than two centuries it was exploited commercially and became one of the greatest sources of pelts in the South Atlantic.
From South American Fur Seal
El Niño events cause mass die-offs along the Peruvian coast: the warming water collapses the anchoveta and the pups starve by the thousand.
From South American Fur Seal
It was given up for extinct: after the killing of several million animals there were no records for decades, until a surviving colony was found in the Juan Fernández archipelago in 1965.
From Juan Fernandez Fur Seal

Ecosystems

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