Cape Fur Seals lying on the sand in Cape Cross, Skeleton Coast, Namibia
Seal colony at Cape Cross Namibia The seal colony at Cape Cross is the breeding place of the Cape fur seals, which are actually a species of sea lion. Along the Namibian and South African coast there are 24 colonies with a seal population of about 650 000 animals. At Cape Cross live about 80 000 to 100 000 seals. They are slightly reduced every year because they are still desired and apparently they eat too much fish. Reproduction. Outside the breeding period one hardly sees any bulls in the colony. They only come in October every year to mark their territory, which they defend for life or death against other bulls. Fully grown bulls can weigh up to 190 kg but at the beginning of the breeding period they weigh up to 360 kg. They loose a lot of their fat in the first 6 weeks by defending their territory. Cows are a lot smaller than bulls, they only weigh up to 75 kg. A few weeks after the bulls have arrived the pregnant cows come to the colony to have one youngster. The pregnancy lasts for about 8 months. One bull has about 5 to 25 cows in his territory and only 7 days after giving a birth the next rutting season starts. Most youngsters are born in November/December and they weigh about to 7 kg. Their fur is pitch black and they start sucking on their mother immediately. They have a very strong mother-youngster relationship. A few days after giving a birth the mother has to return to the sea to feed. During this time the youngsters are very vulnerable and are hunted by jackals and hyenas. Other reasons for deaths are premature birth, injuries, drowning and colony at Cape Cross Namibia About 27% of the seals born at that time die. The youngster feeds nearly one year on the mother. When they are about 4 to 5 months old they start feeding on fish as well. When they are about 7 months old they can stay in the water for up to 4 days. Diet. Seals consume a lot of fish, approximately up to 8% of their own body weight daily.
Size: 6200px × 2816px
Location: Skeleton Coast, Namibia, Africa
Photo credit: © Miguel Cuenca / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: africa, animalia, arctocephalinae, arctocephalus, breed, breeding, brown, cape, carnivora, chordata, class:, coast, colony, cross, family:, fur, genus:, kingdom:, lying, mammal, mammalia, namibia, order:, otariidae, phylum:, pinnipedia, pusillus, resting, seal, seals, seaside, skeleton, sleeping, subfamily:, suborder:
