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Antarctic Animals - Endangered or Vulnerable to Becoming Endangered in the Future A list of the current status, population estimates and population trends of a range of Antarctic animals.
- King Penguins
King penguins in Antarctica, information, facts and...
- Krill
Fortunately for the krill and the Antarctic ecosystem, krill...
- Antarctic Animal Adaptations
Physiological Adaptations Muscle has large amounts of...
- Antarctic Penguins
Many species lay two eggs, though it is rare that two chicks...
- King Penguins
- Are Fur Seals Endangered?
- Are Elephant Seals Endangered?
- How Are Antarctic Seals Protected Today?
- Current Threats to Seal Populations
- How Can We Help Protect Antarctic Seals?
- How Do Seals Adapt to Antarctica?
Antarctic (southern) fur seals are not endangered. In fact, they’re thriving! Especially in South Georgia, where almost 95% of the global population brings their boisterous breeding antics to the beaches every spring. But this wasn’t always the case. From the late 1700s to the early 1900s, seal hunters flocked to South Georgia, the South Shetland I...
Elephant sealsare not endangered today, but like fur seals, they were once the target of sealers. Their blubber was rendered to oil, which was used in paint, soap and candles. This continued until 1964, when their population had declined to the point that the industry was no longer economically viable.
Today, several binding agreements protect Antarctic seals from commercial sealing. In 1975, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) came into force. This voluntary agreement ensures that wild animals and plants aren’t threatened by the commercial pressures of international trade. Today, 183 countr...
Like all sea-dwelling species, seals face an uncertain future due to warming oceans, ocean acidification, increased plastic pollution and other threats, most of them caused by humans. One of the biggest and most unpredictable threats to seals today is climate change. Warmer, more acidic oceans could lead to a cascade of impacts, and scientists are ...
Most scientists agree that the best way to support Antarctic seals is to establish a network of marine protected areas across the Southern Ocean. Marine protected areas are like national parks in the sea, where human activities are more strictly regulated than elsewhere. In 2002, a group of nations* agreed to establish a ‘representative network of ...
Seals must be some of the most versatile, adaptable animals on earth! They can survive in and out of the water, from sea level to hundreds of metres below. The deepest recorded seal dive was by an elephant seal, which went to an incredible 2,388 m (7,835 ft)! They can feed in the darkest depths, raise a pup to maturity in a very short summer and ou...
May 12, 2022 · Although the Cape Shirreff fur seal population is less than 5 percent of the species as a whole, its collapse may have devastating consequences for all Antarctic fur seals. “Because seals were hunted and we ended up with these populations that survived in remote locations, those populations provide especially high genetic diversity,” said Krause.
Proposal to de-list Antarctic fur seals as Specially Protected Species. Working Paper 39. Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXIX, Edinburgh, UK, 12–23 June, 2006. Forcada, J, et al.. (2023). Ninety years of change, from commercial extinction to recovery, range expansion and decline for Antarctic fur seals at South Georgia. Global Change ...
Seals are found along most coasts and cold waters, but a majority of them live in the Arctic and Antarctic waters. Harbor, ringed, ribbon, spotted and bearded seals, as well as northern fur seals and Steller sea lions live in the Arctic region.
Oct 16, 2023 · 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.
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Oct 4, 2023 · These South Shetland Antarctic fur seals (SSAFS) are the highest latitude population of otariids in the world. As such, this subpopulation faces a unique array of environmental and ecological challenges, harbours a disproportionately large reservoir of genetic diversity for the species, and has experienced catastrophic population decline in the last 15 years (2008–2023).
