Guadalupe Fur Seal

The Guadalupe fur seal is a fur seal of the eastern Pacific, marked by a pale mane of guard hairs on its neck. Males can reach up to 190 cm and weigh as much as 170 kg, far more than females.

Also known as: lower californian fur seal

Adult and juvenile Guadalupe fur seals can be hard to tell apart from California sea lions and Northern fur seals, which share the same coastline. The pale, yellowish mane of guard hairs on the neck is the clearest mark to check for in an adult.

Adults are dark brown or dusty grey, with a mane of yellowish-silver guard hairs on the back of the neck. Males are noticeably larger than females, with a bigger head and slightly lighter brown colour. Pups are born with black coats. Like other fur seals, it has visible ear flaps and large flippers it can walk on, unlike true seals.

This species breeds only on the eastern coast of Guadalupe Island off Baja California, where it favours volcanic caves, grottos, and other rocky shelter. Wandering individuals are occasionally seen further north, as far as the Channel Islands, Oregon, and British Columbia.

Non-breeding seals often play together, barking, lunging, and pushing each other into the water. They are also seen waving their hind flippers in the air while floating face down. Around humans, they are generally calm and pay little attention to onlookers.

Guadalupe fur seals spend most of their time far out at sea, diving and foraging for up to two weeks before returning to land. They hunt only at night, catching squid, mackerel, and lanternfish.

Breeding males hold a territory for 35 to 122 days and may mate with up to twelve females. Most pups are born in June. Mothers nurse pups for 8 to 10 days at first, then spend the next nine months alternating between 9 to 13 days foraging at sea and 5 to 6 days back on shore nursing, before the pup becomes independent. Mothers and pups find each other again by sound and smell.

The Guadalupe fur seal is listed as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. Commercial sealing in the 1700s and 1800s was the main cause of its decline, and hunting is now banned across its range. By 2013 the population had recovered to an estimated 34,000 to 44,000 animals, still only about a fifth of its historical size.

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  Australian Sea Lion

  Neophoca cinerea

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  California sea lion

  Zalophus californianus

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  Galapagos sea lion

  Zalophus wollebaeki

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  New Zealand Sea Lion

  Phocarctos hookeri

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  Northern Fur Seal

  Callorhinus ursinus

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  South American Fur Seal

  Arctocephalus australis