Cape Fur Seal

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Cape Fur Seal
Conservation status
Least concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Pinnipedia Family: Otariidae Subfamily: Arctocephalinae Genus: Arctocephalus Species: A. pusillus
Binomial name
Arctocephalus pusillus (Schreber, 1775)

The Cape Fur Seal (also known as the South African Fur Seal) and the Australian Fur Seal are two subspecies of the Arctocephalus pusillus species of fur seal.

The Cape Fur Seal (A. p. pusillus) is found along the coast of Namibia and along the west coast of South Africa. The Australian Fur Seal (A. p. doriferus) breeds on nine islands in the Bass Strait between Tasmania and Victoria.

The Cape Fur Seal is an inquisitive and friendly animal when in the water and will often accompany SCUBA divers. They will swim around divers for periods of several minutes at a time, even at a depth of 60m. On land they are far less relaxed and tend to panic when people come near them. Seal hunting stopped in Australia in 1923.

[edit] References

• Seal Specialist Group (1996). Arctocephalus pusillus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006.
• Randall R. Reeves, Brent S. Stewart, Phillip J. Clapham and James A. Powell (2002). National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 0375411410.