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The Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) is one of eight seals in the genus Arctocephalus, and one of nine fur seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae.Despite what its name suggests, the Antarctic fur seal is mostly distributed in Subantarctic islands [3] and its scientific name is thought to have come from the German vessel SMS Gazelle, which was the first to collect specimens of this ...
The largest known breeding colonies are on Gough Island, in the South Atlantic, and Île Amsterdam, in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean. Breeding grounds are also located on Marion Island in the Prince Edward Islands—which is shared with the Antarctic fur seal—as well as the Crozet Islands and Macquarie Island.
The cape is an important breeding site for Antarctic fur seals. The cape has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a large breeding colony of up to about 10,000 pairs of chinstrap penguins.
The Juan Fernandez fur seal has a particularly long feeding cycle, with about 12 days of foraging and feeding and 5 days of nursing. Most fur seals continue this cycle for about 9 months until they wean their pup. The exception to this is the Antarctic fur seal, which has a feeding cycle that lasts only 4 months.
Seals that breed on ice tend to have little or no sexual dimorphism. In Antarctic seals, there is some size bias in favor of females. Walruses and hooded seals are unique among ice-breeding species in that they have pronounced sexual dimorphism in favor of males. [29] [111] Northern fur seal breeding colony
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Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals, in contrast, while doing much of their feeding at the edge of the continent, breed on subantarctic islands, such as South Georgia. Warmblooded prey makes up a significant proportion of the leopard seal 's diet, and is occasionally taken by Antarctic fur seals.
Leopard seals are also known to take fur seal pups. [36] Around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) is the main prey. Antarctic krill, southern elephant seal pups and petrels such as the diving petrel and the cape petrel have also been taken as prey. [37]