Cape+fur+seals

The cape fur seal is known by many names, some of them being brown fur seal, South African fur seal, and Australian fur seal. However some people believe that the South African and Australian fur seals are sub-species because the South African fur seal is slightly bigger than the Australian fur seal. The male South African fur seal measures at 2.3 meters while weighing 200 to 300 kilograms. The female South African fur seal measures at 1.8 meters long and weighs about 120 kilograms.

Adult male fur seals are colored dark gray to brown while females are colored light gray to brown. Cape fur seals have two pairs of flippers one at the end of the tail and another at their shoulders. The cape fur seal has a long snouted face and very long whiskers. The cape fur seal is classified as arctocephalus pusillus. Cape fur seals diet consists of 70% fish 20% squid 2% crab, and 8% other. The caper fur seal even eats birds, and on a rare instance one cape fur seal killed and ate five blue sharks. Scientist even think that cape fur seals do this to eat the fish inside its belly. The cape fur seals normally dive to get food up to 204 meters for 7.5 minutes at a time.

The cape fur seals most common predator is the great white shark but is also preyed upon by orca whales, black backed jackals, and brown hyenas. But cape fur seals are not defenseless they will avoid predators by swimming in large groups, swimming in multiple directions to confuse the predator, and swimming near the predator's dorsal fin to more easily escape capture. Cape fur seals spend most of their year at sea but still live in colonies of 500 to 1500 seals with no boundaries between colonies. Cape fur seals tend to be friendly animals in the water but confronting one on land will cause it to panic. Although cape fur seals are not endangered or even threatened they still can't legally be hunted in South Africa or Australia, though they are still commonly hunted illegally for their skin. Regardless of the laws, some people say they should be hunted because they disrupt the fishing industry.