Antarctic Fur Seal

The last trip to Antarctica was pretty grey weatherwise. Non the less, on our first landing we came upon some really nice antarctic fur seals on Half Moon Island. This guy was posing for me while his friend was pretty indifferent to me. The fur seals is extremely adaptive and are thriving in the Southern Ocean. On the Island of South Georgia there are now millions of them, in the 1970´s there were virtually non left there. The fur seals was harvested for their delicate underfur that waterproofs them. They were hunted almost to extinction. Then the whales faced a severe toll in the same area and some now speculate if it is actually the marginalized number of whales in the Southern Ocean that are the reason fur seals are multiplying so fast the last decade or two. They are after all feeding on the same "cornerstone" spiecies; krill. Summed up; less whales to eat krill gives more krill to our friends the fur seal, and they are better off. The big question is; Is the whales going to come up in the competition with these guys? And when?