Fur seal
A fur seal is an eared seal with dense insulating underfur. Fur seals include northern and southern species in the family Otariidae.
Otariidae: Otariidae is the mammal family of sea lions and fur seals, characterized by external ears and foreflippers used for swimming. Fur seals are members of this family, alongside sea lions.
Locomotion in pinnipeds: Locomotion in pinnipeds is swimming and terrestrial movement powered by their modified limbs and body. Fur seals swim with their long foreflippers and move on land using all four limbs.
Northern fur seal: The northern fur seal is a North Pacific eared seal, Callorhinus ursinus, that breeds on islands and migrates widely. It is the sole living species in the genus Callorhinus.
Fur trade: The fur trade is the commercial hunting or farming of animals for their pelts. Demand for fur drove extensive hunting of several fur seal populations.
Sea lion: A sea lion is an eared seal in the family Otariidae, generally lacking the dense underfur characteristic of fur seals. Sea lions share the family’s external ears and mobile flippers but differ in coat and body proportions.
Pinniped: A pinniped is a carnivorous marine mammal in the group that includes seals, sea lions, and walruses. Fur seals belong to the broader group of flippered marine mammals.
Diving physiology: Diving physiology comprises the adaptations that let animals remain underwater while limiting oxygen use and pressure-related harm. Fur seals store oxygen and adjust circulation during dives for prey.
Antarctic fur seal: The Antarctic fur seal is a southern eared seal, Arctocephalus gazella, that breeds on subantarctic islands. It is a prominent southern species and a major predator in the Southern Ocean.
Pribilof Islands: The Pribilof Islands are a group in the Bering Sea that hosts major northern fur seal breeding colonies. Their colonies became central to nineteenth-century sealing and later population management.
Earless seal: An earless seal is a pinniped in the family Phocidae, lacking external ear flaps and using hind flippers for swimming. Phocids differ from fur seals in external ears and their main swimming stroke.