Antarctic Fur Seal
Photo © Laura Mae
Photo © Laura Mae — CC BY 4.0 — Source: iNaturalist #17276855The 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 and its scientific name is thought to have come from the German vessel SMS Gazelle, which was the first to collect specimens of this species from the Kerguelen Islands. == Taxonomy == The Antarctic fur seal is a member of the genus Arctocephalus. Recently, a proposal was made to reassign this species to the resurrected genus Arctophoca. Antarctic fur seals may be confused with southern otariids that share their range, like Subantarctic (A. tropicalis), New Zealand (A. forsteri), and South American fur seals (A. australis), and the Juan Fernandez fur seal (A. phillippii), as well as the South American (Otaria flavescens) and New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri). Genetic studies on population structure suggest that there are two genetically distinct regions: a western region including the islands of the Scotia Arc, Bouvet Island, and Marion Islands, and an eastern region, including Kerguelen and Macquarie Islands. Seals from the Crozet Islands and Heard Island are mixtures from both regions. == Description…
Garden Route National Park
George, South Africa
+353 birds+54 mammals
Sweeping across the Western Cape's coastal and mountainous terrain, this sprawling national park encompasses over five thousand square kilometers of extraordinarily diverse landscape—from coastal limestone cliffs…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDeception Island
Gabriel de Castilla Base, Antarctica
+26 birds+10 mammals
Steaming geothermal vents pierce a landscape of blackened volcanic sand and ice, where the earth's raw power still trembles beneath your feet. This horseshoe-shaped caldera, flooded…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOCuverville Island
Cuverville Island, Antarctica
+19 birds+10 mammals
Granite peaks and sculpted ice define this windswept archipelago off the Antarctic Peninsula, where steep rocky shores plunge into waters thick with drifting brash ice. Cuverville…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGONeko Harbour
Neko Harbour, Antarctica
+18 birds+10 mammals
Towering peaks of fractured ice rise abruptly from gunmetal waters, their faces scarred by millennia of glacial advance and retreat. This pocket of the Antarctic Peninsula…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEParadise Bay
Brown Station, Antarctica
+18 birds+9 mammals
Where the Antarctic Peninsula's rugged coastline meets the Southern Ocean, Brown Station stands sentinel over Paradise Bay—a protected landscape of ice-carved inlets, towering glacial faces, and…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEBrown Bluff
Brown Bluff, Antarctica
+23 birds+9 mammals
Where rust-colored volcanic peaks pierce the Antarctic Peninsula's icy realm, a geologist's dreamscape unfolds beneath towering cliffs of iron oxide and ancient lava. Brown Bluff rises…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEPort Lockroy
Port Lockroy, Antarctica
+19 birds+9 mammals
Towering peaks of black rock pierce through Antarctic pack ice on the Gerlache Strait, where one of the continent's most accessible harbors cradles a living microcosm…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEHalf Moon Island
Cámara Base, Antarctica
+25 birds+8 mammals
Jagged volcanic peaks rise from the cobalt waters of the South Shetland Islands, their slopes carpeted in moss and lichen where hardy vegetation clings to windswept…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOPetermann Island
Petermann Island, Antarctica
+16 birds+9 mammals
Icebound cliffs rise dramatically from the Bellingshausen Sea, their weathered faces sculpted by millennia of Antarctic wind and tide. This slender wedge of rock and ice,…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOPaulet Island
Paulet Island, Antarctica
+20 birds+6 mammals
Windswept ice and weathered rock converge at this remote Antarctic outcrop, where jagged peaks pierce through perpetual pack ice and glacial moraines descend toward cobalt waters.…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGODanco Island
Danco Island, Antarctica
+17 birds+10 mammals
Dramatic black rock pierces the Antarctic Peninsula's icy waters, crowned with permanent snow and ringed by calving glaciers that thunder into the sea. This volcanic outcrop…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOWilhelmina Bay
Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica
+20 birds+10 mammals
Sheer cliffs of black volcanic rock plunge into waters so pristine they reflect the Antarctic sky like polished obsidian. This remote western Antarctic inlet, ringed by…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPELemaire Channel
Orne Harbour, Antarctica
+25 birds+13 mammals
Where granite peaks plunge into steel-grey waters, the Lemaire Channel carves one of Antarctica's most dramatic passages. This narrow strait, squeezed between the Antarctic Peninsula and…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPESalisbury Plain
South Georgia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+33 birds+4 mammals
Where tussock grasses bow to relentless Antarctic winds and glacial meltwater carves braided channels through obsidian volcanic soil, one of Earth's most remote wildlife sanctuaries reveals…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPESt. Andrews Bay
South Georgia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+34 birds+6 mammals
Where windswept tundra dissolves into obsidian beaches, one of the planet's most extraordinary wildlife theaters unfolds across St. Andrews Bay. This remote corner of South Georgia…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEFortuna Bay
Stromness, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+37 birds+5 mammals
Where tussock grasslands sweep down to black-sand beaches and elephant seals haul out in thunderous colonies, the raw sub-Antarctic landscape reveals itself in its most dramatic…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEPrion Island
Prince Olav Harbour, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+36 birds+2 mammals
Windswept tussock grasslands rise sharply from boulder-strewn beaches where the Southern Ocean hurls its grey swells against black volcanic rock. This remote speck in South Georgia's…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOCooper Bay
Cooper Bay, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+28 birds+5 mammals
Where black-sand beaches meet towering cliffs striped with cascading meltwater, one of the Southern Ocean's most dramatic amphitheaters reveals itself. Cooper Bay cuts a deep indent…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEElsehul Bay
Bird Island Station, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+33 birds+4 mammals
Granite peaks rise sheer from the Southern Ocean, their weathered faces streaked with cascading meltwater and cloaked in tussock grass that bends beneath relentless winds. This…
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