Macquarie Island 2003

Banoncom Home Henry's Igloo Welcome Macca History Where is Macca? Macca Weather MACCAPOW Training Voyage 6 Re-supply Field/Boat training Journal Then and Now Free Downloads Photo Gallery Copyright info maccapow 40 - 01/01/04 (Happy New Year!!!) Antarctic Fur Seal This photo of an Antarctic fur seal pup was taken in Secluded Beach on North Head, which is one of the three major breeding areas for fur seals on Macquarie Island. Seals are streamlined, highly specialized marine mammals that have adapted to life in water, and fur seals are so named because they have two layers of fur, a coarse outer layer of guard hairs, and a fine inner layer. As fur seals have a much thinner blubber layer than other seals that occur in cold waters, these two layers of fur help to insulate them. Fur seals occur in many parts of the world, and Macca is unique in that it is the only place in the world where Antarctic, subantarctic and New Zealand fur seals occur together.   Are you my mum? (photo by Melanie Lancaster) Each summer, fur seals arrive on the island to breed and moult their coats. From late November onwards, females (cows) come ashore to have their pups, and males (bulls) establish and defend territories, at the same time attempting to keep females in their territory to mate with them. Antarctic fur seal pups are nursed for four months, and subantarctic pups are nursed for eight to ten months, after which time the pups must learn to forage for themselves. The summer months are the busiest for fur seals on Macca, with around three hundred breeding seals ashore and many more juvenile and non-breeding seals arriving throughout summer to moult their coats. The current fur seal population on Macca is only a fraction of what it was before seal harvesting in the early nineteenth century. Between 1810 and 1820, over two hundred thousand fur seals were killed for their highly sought-after skins, which resulted in their complete extermination from the island. Following the establishment of an ANARE research station on Macquarie Island in 1949, the recovery of fur seals on Macca has been monitored most years through various research programs. Currently, around one hundred and fifty seal pups are born each summer and although this number is increasing, the population is still very much in a state of early recovery and its long-term survival on Macca remains uncertain. Let's hope they make it! (description by Melanie Lancaster) [< prev pow] [next pow >]

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