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northern fur seal is a close relative of the southern fur seal. His body is covered with thick warm hair, so he and his relatives are still hunted for their skins.
DIMENSIONS
Length: males - up to 2 m, females - 1.5 m.
Weight: males - 185-250 kg, females - 30-50 kg.

BREEDING
Puberty: males - 5 years, females - from 2 years.
Mating season: June and July.
Pregnancy: 12 months.
Number of cubs: 1.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: females with cubs roam from place to place; males lead a sedentary life; males and females meet only during the rut.
Food: mainly fish.
Sounds: During courtship on the coast, males emit a sharp growl.
Related SPECIES
Its seven closest relatives inhabit mainly the southern hemisphere.
The northern fur seal was discovered in 1741 on the Commander Islands off the coast of Alaska, and then in 1786 on the Pribylov Islands. Large male fur seals weigh five times more than females. They devote a lot of time to protecting their site from competitors.
REPRODUCTION. The billhooks are the first to appear in the rookery area. They fight among themselves for the best sites. Queens appear on rookeries in mid-May-early June. They go ashore, where billhooks are waiting for them, who are trying to capture and drive more females into their harem. Harem females are jealously guarded by billhooks. During the first 1-4 days after the appearance on the rookery, the females give birth to cubs. The baby weighs about 2 kg, its length is 50 cm. The newborn baby is covered with black fur. A few days after giving birth, the female mates with the owner of the harem, after which she goes hunting for several days. She returns to shore to feed her young. At the age of 3 months, the cubs are already descending into the water.
CAT AND MAN. Since 1834, the active trade in the skins of northern fur seals in Russia has led to the fact that the colonies of these animals on the Pribilof Islands have twice been on the verge of extinction. Hunters from other countries posed a threat to northern fur seals during their hunt on the high seas. In 1911, the US, UK, Japan and Tsarist Russia signed an agreement to regulate the hunting of pinnipeds.
LIFESTYLE. The way of life of male and female northern fur seals is very different. Adult males never move far from the islands in the Bering Sea area, where their rookeries are located. Females go annually to travel the ocean and fish. Some females even reach the coast of California. Northern fur seals are much more mobile on the ground than seals because they can bend their hind limbs under the body.
In the water, they also move differently than seals: northern fur seals row with a circular motion of the front flippers, while the rear ones mainly act as a rudder. It is known that the hearing, taste and vision of northern fur seals are very well developed, but so far it has not been possible to find out how they navigate underwater.
FOOD. northern fur seals they spend most of their lives feeding in the fish-rich northern waters of the Pacific Ocean. It is fish that is the basis of their menu. In addition, northern fur seals prey on cephalopods and crustaceans. Like other pinnipeds, they find food with the help of vibrissae, which tremble at the approach of prey, which cause waves in the water. Trembling is transmitted by nerve endings. During the mating season, females regularly leave their cubs alone, going to the sea to feed, being absent for 7-8 days. Often they move up to 160 km from the coast. The seals swim, rest and sleep in the water until they reach fish-rich areas. There they hunt.
Did you know?? That northern fur seals prey on 63 different species of fish. Under normal conditions, 8 species of fish predominate in their diet.
Voyages of female northern fur seals from rookeries to the sea and back is a long voyage, which is carried out by eared seals.
Control of the Pribylov Islands and the lucrative fur trade were among the main reasons behind the US decision to buy Alaska from the Russian Empire.
Male and female fur seals differ so much from each other in size that people used to consider them to be representatives of different species.
Northern fur seals dive to an average depth of 68 m. However, they have been seen at a depth of 190 m, and even deep-sea fish have been found in their stomachs.

APPEARANCE northern fur seal. Males are much larger and heavier than females. On the neck, males have a thick collar. A thick layer of subcutaneous fat helps northern fur seals maintain a constant body temperature in icy water. It provides the animal with a streamlined shape and makes swimming easier.
Newborn seals are in danger of being crushed by males who fight among themselves or obsessively pursue the female, since there is very little space on the rookeries where lambing and mating rituals take place.

LIVING PLACE. Northern fur seals in the North Pacific. They are found on the Pribylov Islands, Commander Islands, Tyuleniy Island, on some Kuril Islands, in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and on the coast of California.

Does anyone know that seals swim in the seas? No, well, of course, these are not the seals that live in our homes, not the seals that have fluffy hair and a long tail ... In nature, there are animals fur seals, but these animals have nothing to do with the cat family, except, perhaps, as and cats are mammals.

Fur seals belong to the order of pinnipeds and are members of the eared seal family.

Appearance of fur seals

Like all pinnipeds, fur seals have an elongated body, short neck, small head, and flipper-shaped limbs. The tail of these mammals, as well as their ears, is almost impossible to notice. But even though the ears of the seals themselves are too small, they still have auricles.

Large eyes are located on the head, they have a dark shade and are always filled with moisture. The hairline of the animal is very short, but quite thick. Fur color, often brown or black

The size of the animal is not at all small, but males are always much larger than females, about 4 or 5 times. Males weigh from 100 to 250 kilograms, and females from 25 to 40 kilograms.

Habitat for fur seals

The entire population of these animals on the planet is divided into Northern fur seals and Southern fur seals. Their habitat is the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, ranging from the Alaska Peninsula in the north to Australia in the south. In addition, one of the species of these animals lives on the coast of the southern part of the African mainland.

The fur seal prefers the coast, while it can be located both on a rocky coast and in gently sloping areas.

Lifestyle of fur seals

Fur seals are herd animals, they gather in huge colonies, and they all settle in one place. Sometimes in places where such a cluster of seals lives, there is literally nowhere for an apple to fall. The shore for these mammals is a place of rest, and hunting takes place in the water. Often, hunting is protracted - up to three days. But this is not a problem for fur seals, because they can even sleep in the water!

These mammals are migratory animals. Their movements are related to breeding, because during the breeding season they need cold waters, in which there is a lot of food they need.

Although fur seals live in a herd, everyone prefers to hunt on their own, they have such a temper! Scientists believe that these representatives of pinnipeds have a fairly high intelligence.

What do seals eat

Fur seals prey mainly on fish. Sometimes they can eat cephalopods.

Due to the special streamlining of the body, these animals are quite fast underwater swimmers.

Reproduction of fur seals

The mating season for animals falls in the spring (in the northern hemisphere it is May, in the southern hemisphere it is November). Male fur seals, with the onset of the mating season, try to immediately designate their territory. They do this with a loud roar. Males occupying a “high position” and having the largest sizes are located in the center of the rookery. The protection of the territory is very serious and not always friendly: there are also fights between rivals. Around him, the male fur seal gathers something like a harem. He immediately has several females in mind (up to 20 individuals!) After the mating season, pregnancy occurs.

For a whole year, the expectant mother bears offspring, and after giving birth she carefully protects the cub, because the “father of the family” behaves absolutely unceremoniously towards small cats: he may simply not notice and crush the baby with his huge body. The weight of a newborn cat is approximately 2 kilograms. When the babies are 2 months old, they are already beginning to learn to hunt and go into the water. Until that time, mother's milk serves as food for them.

Female fur seals are very good mothers and bad wives, careful studies by British scientists have shown that female fur seals often cheat on their "husbands" and travel around the colony in search of potential fathers for their cubs.

Fur seals are polygamous animals. A mature large male keeps a whole harem of females around him on a rookery. At the same time, females are guided by two criteria: the chosen one must have a good heredity and he should not be a close relative.

Everyone who has ever managed to see a fur seal rookery is amazed by the spectacle that opens up. Imagine a stretch of beach (sandy or rocky) of several hundred, sometimes thousands of square meters, almost entirely occupied by the bodies of fur seals. Here and there, huge dark brown males (hooks) rise up with their heads up. Around the male is a whole group of females, his harem. Females are much smaller than males and are painted in light iridescent colors, sometimes very beautiful.

Behind the females lie the cubs - they are black (specialists who study seals call them “black ones”). The males barely budge, but make fearsome lunges against anyone who dares to get too close. To this colorful visual image we must add sounds and smells (the latter do not at all seem pleasant to us). Even a short observation of the rookery shows that the males run everything here, and in a very tough, despotic manner, while the females are destined for the role of absolutely disenfranchised inhabitants of the harem.

However, a detailed study of the behavior of seals shows that many females do not remain faithful to their master at all, but cheat on him with those who are considered more suitable for the role of fathers of their future descendants. In search of a sexual partner, they even leave their children for a while and move around the rookery, crossing the territories of the harems of other males and experiencing aggression from other females (aggression is quite justified - after all, any movement of adult seals around the colony is fraught with crushing babies). The choice of females is not random - they prefer those males who have better heredity and who are not close relatives.

It turned out that only 23% of females mate with the owner of their harem. The rest go to one distance or another (sometimes up to 35 m, which is quite a lot from the point of view of a seal moving on land dotted with the bodies of fellow tribesmen) and mate with a male who is not a relative and is highly heterozygous. What specific signs the female reacts to when making her choice is unknown, but apparently it is the appearance and smell.

And this means that there is, in principle, no one single male, "the best" for all females. For different females, different males turn out to be “best”.
Now you know more :)

Fur seals, despite the name, have nothing to do with cats. These are pinniped mammals belonging to the family of eared seals. Their closest relatives are animals with another "cat" name - sea lions. In total, there are 7-9 species of fur seals (scientists have not yet come to a consensus on exactly how many), which are divided into two genera - northern fur seals (1 species) and southern fur seals (all other species).

Kerguelen fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella).

The appearance of these animals is typical for pinnipeds. They have an elongated body, a relatively short neck, a small head, and the limbs are flattened and turned into flippers. Compared to true seals, fur seals are not as fat and move on land using all four limbs, while seals crawl on their belly dragging their hind legs. The tail of these animals is so short that it is practically invisible. Unlike real seals, fur seals have auricles, for which they received the name eared seals.

The ears of fur seals are very tiny, at first you won’t notice them.

The eyes of these animals are large and dark, as if covered with moisture. Fur seals are fairly nearsighted, although they have well-developed hearing and sense of smell. These animals are also capable of echolocation like dolphins. Fur seals, although short, are very thick, and therefore highly valued. The color of animals is often brown, sometimes almost black. Newborn seals are always pure black, after molting they wear juvenile (that is, characteristic only of young animals) gray fur. Males and females of fur seals are very different in size: males look more massive due to the thick neck and are 4-5 times larger than females! The weight of male large northern fur seals can reach 100-250 kg, while females weigh only 25-40 kg.

Sleeping female fur seal.

Fur seals live on the coasts of the seas and oceans and are never found in inland waters. Since these animals are more mobile than seals, they often occupy not only gentle, but also steep rocky shores. The range of various species covers the entire Pacific basin from Alaska and Kamchatka in the north to Australia and the subantarctic islands in the south. In addition, the Cape fur seal lives on the coast of the Namib Desert in South Africa. This is the only marine mammal that can be said to live in the desert!

Fur seals have a pronounced gregarious character, their rookeries number several thousand animals, often living in crowded and crushed. Usually, animals rest on the shore, and feed in the sea. However, each such hunt can last up to 2-3 days, so the seals can also sleep in the water.

Fur seal rookery.

In addition, all types of fur seals are migratory. Typically, migrations take place in a north-south direction within the range of each species. Especially long-distance migrations are made by northern fur seals, from Kamchatka they sail thousands of kilometers to the south and winter in California. Migration is associated with the fact that during the period of breeding fur seals are in colder waters rich in food. In crowded rookeries, animals behave differently: small females have a meek character and, as a rule, do not conflict with each other, but the disposition of males is not at all “feline”. They often sort things out among themselves, and they do this not only during the marriage period. It doesn't cost anything for an adult male to bite a smaller female or throw a cub aside if he considers that they interfere with his path. On rookeries, fur seals behave quite loudly, their places of haulout are announced by noise, unlike seals, which are practically silent. Despite the herd lifestyle, fur seals do not show solidarity and do not perform organized joint actions: each animal hunts alone, comes and goes separately from the shore. At the same time, these animals have a high level of intelligence, learn quickly and are able to learn many complex commands.

Fur seals feed mainly on fish, less often they can eat cephalopods. In the water, these are agile and fast predators, moreover, they are quite voracious. By autumn, fur seals accumulate a thick layer of subcutaneous fat.

This New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri) feels completely free in the water.

Fur seals breed in the spring. Only in northern fur seals spring comes in May-June, and in southern fur seals, on the contrary, in November. During the rut, males swim to summer haulouts and occupy areas in accordance with their status: large males in the middle of the haulout, small and weak ones on the periphery. Males begin to roar loudly, thus marking the boundaries of their territories. If the interests of neighbors collide, the seals enter into battle with each other, fiercely biting the opponent's neck. However, more often they limit themselves to a show of force, avoiding direct confrontations. Females can freely move around the territory of the rookery, however, each male zealously watches his mates and does his best to prevent the female from leaving for the rival's territory. Thus, a harem is formed around each male, its size and number depend on the status of the male: large bulls can have up to 20 females in the harem, small ones have only a few individuals.

A male fur seal guards two females, preventing other males from approaching them.

Pregnancy of females lasts a year, so childbirth also occurs during the rut. Each female gives birth right in the harem and during the first days she carefully guards the cub, whose weight is only 2 kg. Then the mother is forced to leave the baby to feed in the sea. The cubs remain on the shore and are exposed to many dangers from ... fathers. The fact is that formidable bulls do not stand on ceremony with their own offspring and can simply crush the kids with their weight or throw them aside. It is during this period that a considerable number of cubs die. The second wave of danger comes in a couple of months, when the young begin to go into the water. Inexperienced animals often become prey for sharks and killer whales. On the coast of Chile, killer whales specially swim to the shores at this time to feed on easy prey. In pursuit of fur seals, they even throw themselves into the surf.

The fur seal makes incredible leaps in a desperate effort to get away from the shark.

In addition to natural enemies, hunting also brings considerable damage to populations. To this day, seal hunting is carried out on an industrial scale. Only cubs are killed (their fur is of the best quality), in addition to the skins, the meat and fat of these animals are also used. However, the main production is for the fashion industry. Some subspecies of fur seals are on the verge of extinction.

The fur seal is not related to cats in any way and is a pinniped mammal, a member of the eared seal family. Its closest relative is . In nature, there are 7-9 species of fur seals, which are combined into two genera - northern (one species) and southern fur seals (other species).

The fur seal is characterized by the typical appearance of most pinnipeds. The body is elongated with a short neck, small head, and flattened limbs - flippers. The tail is short and almost invisible. The fur seal is not as fat as a seal, but moves on the ground using all four limbs. Also, fur seal is distinguished from the seal by the presence of auricles, which is why it is sometimes called an eared seal.

The eyes are dark, large, moist. Vision is poor, myopia is characteristic, hearing and smell are much better developed. Fur seals also have the ability to echolocate. The fur is short, very thick and valuable, brown or almost black. A newborn cub is always jet black, and after the first molt becomes gray. Male and female fur seals are distinguished by their size: males are 4-5 times larger. While their weight reaches 100-250 kg, the weight of females is in the range of 25-40 kg.

The diet of the fur seal consists mainly of fish, less often it eats cephalopods. In the water, it is an agile and fast voracious predator. In autumn, the fur seal always accumulates a thick layer of fat under the skin.

The fur seal chooses the coasts of the seas and oceans for life; it is not found in inland waters. Since the species is more mobile than the seal, it can occupy both gentle and steep rocky shores. Various types of fur seals are distributed throughout the entire Pacific basin from Alaska and Kamchatka to Australia and the islands of the subantarctic. A species such as the Cape fur seal lives on the coast of the Namib Desert in southern Africa.

Common Types of Fur Seals

"Classic" representative of fur seals. Males in length reach 2.2 m, weigh up to 320 kg. Females, weighing 70 kg, have a body length of about 1.5 m. Distributed in the North Pacific Ocean to the south of Japan and California.

The body length of males is up to 1.9 m, weight is about 200 kg. Females are 1.40 m long and weigh 50 kg. The fur is light brown in females and black-grey with a mane in males. The species includes two subspecies: the Falkland fur seal (Arctocephalus australis australis), which lives in the Falkland Islands, and the main subspecies Arctocephalus australis gracilis, an inhabitant of the coasts of South America. The population today is stable and not in danger of extinction.

Painted grey-brown. Males are distinguished by a black mane and body length up to 2.5 m, weight 180 kg. Females reach a length of 1.5 m, weigh up to 70 kg. The species is found on the coasts of New Zealand, in the south and west of Australia, as well as on some subantarctic islands.

The smallest kind. The body length of males is 1.5 m, weight is up to 64 kg. The body length of females is 1.2 m, weight does not exceed 28 kg. Wool gray-brown. This species is endemic to the Galapagos Islands, where it lives all its life without making migrations.

Males reach 1.9 m in length, females - 1.3 m. Weight 150 and 50 kg, respectively. Fur gray-brown. The male is distinguished by the presence of a black mane, with gray or white hairs. Habitat - Antarctica (Islands of South Georgia and South Sandwich, Prince Edward, South Shetland, South Orkney, Bouvet, Kerguelen, Heard and McDonald, Crozet and Macquarie Islands).

The body length of males is 2.5 m, females - 1.8 m. This species is the largest. The subspecies Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus is found on the Atlantic coasts of South Africa and Namibia, and can migrate far north. The second subspecies Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus lives on small islands in the Bass Strait.

Males are larger than females. The view is painted in dark brown or almost black, with a yellowish back of the neck. The mating season takes place in the east of the island of Guadalupe, which is 200 km west of California.

Medium sized view. The body length of males is up to 2 m, weight is about 160 kg, females are up to 1.4 m in length, weigh about 50 kg. The chest and muzzle are creamy orange, the belly is brownish. The back of males is dark gray or black, females are light gray. The habitat is wide and partially overlaps with the Kerguelen fur seal. Large colonies live on the islands of Gough in the South Atlantic and Amsterdam in the south of the Indian Ocean.

A striking sign of sexual dimorphism in fur seals is the difference in the size of females and males. The latter are larger than the former by 4-5 times. In addition, males have a black mane on their necks, which is absent in females.

Fur seals have a gregarious character, in rookeries there are several thousand individuals that live in close quarters. Animals rest on the shore, go to the sea in search of food. The duration of the hunt is usually 2-3 days, so the fur seal knows how to sleep in the water.

All species are characterized by migration. They are usually directed north-south within the range. The farthest movements are typical for northern fur seals: from Kamchatka to California. Migration is due to the fact that fur seals choose colder waters rich in food during the breeding season.

On rookeries, fur seals behave differently: females are usually calm and peaceful, but males show aggression, often bite small females and cubs. In addition, these animals are very loud, and their rookeries are distinguished by a high level of noise. Each fur seal hunts alone; joint actions are not typical for this species. Fur seals are distinguished by a high level of intelligence, they are easy to train even complex commands.

The mating season is in the spring. Only in the northern fur seal spring comes in May-June, and in the southern fur seal in November. At this time, males come to summer rookeries and occupy each of their sites: large individuals in the middle, small and weak ones at the edges. Males roar loudly, marking the border of their territory. Fur seals often fight each other and bite. Females move freely around the rookery, but males follow them and try not to let them out of their territory. A kind of "harem" is created around each male: from 2-3 to 20 females.

The duration of pregnancy is 1 year, childbirth occurs during the rut. The female gives birth in a harem, and at first guards the baby, weighing about 2 kg. She then leaves him as she goes out for food. The babies left on the shore are threatened by males, who can easily crush them. Young animals in the water become prey for sharks and killer whales. For these reasons, mortality among young animals is quite high.

The natural enemies of the fur seal are sharks and killer whales, which attack the young. The population is also damaged by hunting, which people still conduct on an industrial scale. They mainly hunt cubs because of the high quality of the fur, meat and fat are also used. Because of this fishing, certain subspecies of the fur seal are on the verge of extinction.

The rookery of the northern fur seal on the Commander Islands was first described in the middle of the 18th century by the naturalist Georg Steller. After describing the rich rookeries, hunters for “fur gold” reached out to the islands and uncontrolled fishing began, which put the animal on the brink of extinction. In the 20th century, a convention was adopted for the conservation of the northern fur seal. Fishing is still going on, but not in such volumes as before, and the population is gradually recovering.