Antarctic fur seals that were hunted to near extinction have recovered but now face dangerous decline because of a lack of food, new research suggests.
Antarctic fur seals that were hunted to near extinction have recovered but now face dangerous decline because of a lack of food, new research suggests.
The study of fur seals, almost all of which live on the sub-Antarctic islands of South Georgia, shows that the modern-day population peaked in 2009 at about 3.5 million – a healthy number, although significantly less than previously estimated. But a more detailed count of animals living on a particular South Georgia island called Bird Island also shows the seals are finding it harder to find krill – a small shrimp-like crustacean – with numbers crashing in the last decade.
The research is carried out by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and colleagues and is published this week (16 October 2023) in the journal Global Change Biology.
Read more at British Antarctic Survey
Photo Credit: A_Different_Perspective via Pixabay
