Cape Fur Seals

The South African or Cape fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus ssp. pusillus) is a subspecies of the Afro-Australian fur seal. They are found along the coast of Namibia and along the western and southern coasts of South Africa. There are two islands off the coast of the Cape Peninsula, south of Cape Town, South Africa, where Cape fur seals live. Both are known as Seal Island; however, the official name of the one off the western coast of the peninsula is Duiker Island. The other island is located off the eastern shore of the peninsula (in False Bay) and is 3.5 miles (5.7 kilometers) off the northern beaches of False Bay. The photos shown here were taken off Duiker Island.

Seal Island (in False Bay) is also known for the presence of great white sharks, which hunt the seals. The sharks prefer hunting there rather than at Duiker Island due to the higher seal concentration and the steep drop-off just offshore, allowing the sharks to approach seals undetected in deeper water, leading to the breaching behavior, where great whites launch themselves out of the water to hunt, facilitating surprise attacks. Another reason is that great whites prefer warmer water, and the water in False Bay is warmer than that at Duiker Island, since the current at Duiker Island is of the Atlantic coming up from the Antarctic (Southern) Ocean, whereas in False Bay there's a combination of the cold water from the Atlantic and the warmer current from the Indian Ocean. The seals are also prey to orcas, which, even though they prefer cold water, orcas are also more likely to hunt seals in False Bay because of their hunting techniques.

The Cape fur seal is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2014) with a current population trend that is increasing.

But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.

—Rachel Carson, marine biologist, writer, and conservationist