Description
This fur seal has a short and broad snout compared with others in the family. Adult males are dark brown in colour. Females and juveniles tend to be grey with a lighter undersides. Colour patterns are highly variable, and some scientists believe some hybridisation with subantarctic fur seals has occurred. Pups are dark brown, nearly black at birth. About one in 1000 Antarctic fur seals are pale 'blonde' variants.
Males are substantially bigger than females. Antarctic fur seals grow 2 m (6.5 ft) long and weigh 91 kg (200 lb) to 209 kg (460 lb). Males live for about 15 years and females up to 25.
Antarctic fur seals appear to act alone when foraging and migrating. Males breed polygynously; a strong male may have more than a dozen female partners in a single season. Territories are established on breeding grounds in October to early November, when the musty-smelling males are extremely aggressive in defence of their harems. Females gestate for just over a year - giving birth in November or December. Pups are weaned at about four months old. Juveniles may then spend several years at sea before returning to begin their breeding cycles.
The usual food supply is krill, of which each Antarctic fur seal eats about a tonne in a year. Due to the enormous and growing populations of these seals, their food is a significant proportion of South Georgia's krill stocks.
Read more about this topic: Antarctic Fur Seal
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