Galapagos seals are well known for being one of the smallest of the otariids family. Adult males can average up to about 5 ft in length and weigh about 140 pounds. Females grow to around 4 ft and weigh up to 60 pounds. Galapagos Fur seals live in large colonies on rocky shores and spend almost no time in the water except to feed.
Breeding season is from mid-August to mid-November. Usually mother seals only have one pup per year. Mother seals stay with their pups for the first week then they go off to hunt. Baby seals feed off of their mother's milk for the first 18 months of their life. Adult seals mostly feed off of fish and cephalopod which can be found not far off the shore. Surprisingly the fur seal has no constant predators. Occasionally sharks and orcas have been seen feeding on seals but it is very rare.
Although fur seals don't have a main predator it has still taken a long time for the population to recover because of an El Niño event in which the ocean currents changed to a warmer temperature impacting the food supply. In 1982-1983 almost all of the seal pups died and about half the adult population was wiped out. The population is slowly getting back to normal and the seals have not had anymore blows to their population.
