Wildlife
Brown fur seals are one of the larger fur seals and rather similar to many sea lions. There are two sub-species the South African or Cape fur seal, and the Australian fur seal of south eastern Australia and Tasmania. These seals spend most of the year at sea and show obvious sexual dimorphism - the males are considerably larger than the females.
Scientific name: Arctocephalus pusillus
Rank: Species
In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.
Skeleton coast
Young male Cape fur seals hone fighting and territory-holding skills.
Young male Cape fur seals hone fighting and territory-holding skills.
Fledging gannets
Fledging is a dangerous pursuit in the seas off South Africa.
After months of being fattened with fish from their parents, gannet chicks have to take their first steps towards independence. But making their first flight is difficult, many are overwhelmed by the power of the ocean, and from there it's much harder to take off. On the sea they are vulnerable to fur seals who take advantage of young birds inability to fly and who make the most of this bumper harvest.
The following habitats are found across the Brown fur seal distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Population trend: Increasing
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The Cape Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus), also known as the brown fur seal, South African fur seal and the Australian fur seal is a species of fur seal.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you find the content in the 'About' section factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. For more information on our use of Wikipedia please read our FAQ.
BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
Migration
Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Colonial
Acoustic communication
Maternal care
Moulting
Polygynous
Predator
Social
Sexual dimorphism
Territorial
Viviparous