Australian Fur Seals: Playful Swimmers and a Conservation Success Story
Australian Fur Seals are commonly found in coastal waters and oceans. They particularly favour rocky islands for breeding and relaxing. Or in Sidney Harbour’s case, the opera house steps, which is home to a very popular male seal we get to say hello to quite often! With powerful flippers and a streamlined body, the Australian Fur Seal is an agile swimmer, able to dive to depths of 200 meters in search of fish and squid. They are also quite playful, and we often see them swimming around the boat or waking their flipper out of the water to thermoregulate. In the 1800s, the Australian Fur Seal was extensively hunted for its fur, causing its numbers to plummet from hundreds of thousands to just 20,000. Another danger to the species is becoming trapped in abandoned fishing equipment. However, all marine mammals in Australia are now protected by law, and the population of the Australian Fur Seal is gradually recovering.
Source: https://australian.museum
