The Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) is one of eight seal species in the genus Arctocephalus, and one of nine fur seals worldwide in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. The name is a bit of a misnomer: despite it, the species is mostly found on subantarctic islands rather than the Antarctic continent itself, and its scientific name is thought to trace back to the SMS Gazelle, the German vessel that first collected specimens of it at the Kerguelen Islands.
On our routes, the reliable place to find them hauled out in numbers is South Georgia, where beaches near the old whaling stations can be crowded with them. Smaller, scattered colonies turn up on landings in the South Shetland Islands and the South Orkney Islands, and sightings have also been logged around the more remote South Sandwich Islands for travellers who make it that far south.
They are quick on land for a seal, curious about passing groups, and easy to mistake at a distance for the more solidly built elephant seals they often share a beach with. Worth pausing for, if only to appreciate how far a specimen collected off Kerguelen ended up shaping the name for a species now most associated with a completely different set of islands.
