The Guadalupe Fur Seal: Habitat, Behavior, Population Size, and Field Identification

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Abstract
Fur seals, Arctocephalus townsendi Merriam, 1897, at present land and breed regularly only along the precipitous, rocky east shore of Isla de Guadalupe, 256 km west of Baja California, Mexico. They seldom if ever land on open sandy beaches, and many haul out in caves and recesses along the narrow lava shoreline. The restricted range appears related to the near extermination of the species in the last century. Although congeneric with the fur seals of the Southern Hemisphere, which breed in the austral summer, A. townsendi breeds from May to July. Our censuses suggest that the population increased from a few individuals in 1954 to at least 500 in 1967. Form, pelage, vocalizations, certain activities, and habitat provide distinctive features for recognition of A. townsendi in the field.