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Antarctic fur seal on South Georgia - numbers more than halved by krill shortage

Warming seas and shrinking sea ice push krill deeper, leaving Antarctic fur seals short of food. South Georgia is the species' main breeding area.

In April 2026 the IUCN moved the Antarctic fur seal from Least Concern to Endangered. Mature individuals fell from about 2,187,000 in 1999 to 944,000 in 2025, a decline of more than half. According to the IUCN, krill shortages at South Georgia have dramatically reduced first-year pup survival, leaving an ageing breeding population. Killer whales, leopard seals and recovering baleen whales competing for krill add pressure, and the species is also susceptible to H5N1 bird flu (see zw-southern-ocean-h5n1).

Species

Needs

• habitat

Who is helping

Organisations that, according to their own publications, work on this event (1). Donations go directly to each organisation's own website - GLOBURNS does not handle payments.

• British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
  The British Antarctic Survey carries out polar research and runs stations in Antarctica and on South Georgia. At Bird Island and King Edward Point it has long monitored…

Sources

• iucn.org iucn.org/press-release/202604/emperor-penguin-and-antarctic-fur-seal-now-endangered-due-c…
• bas.ac.uk bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/bird-island/
• bas.ac.uk bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/king-edward-point/

Seed record, before editorial verification. Every number links to its source; report errors on the Corrections page. Methodology · Corrections

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• Huemul, the endangered Andean deer of Patagonia South America, Patagonian Andes (Chile and Argentina)
• River dolphin die-offs in Amazon droughts South America, central Amazon (Tefé, Coari)
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• Tapanuli orangutan after the Sumatra floods Southeast Asia, North Sumatra
• Emperor penguin endangered by early break-up of fast ice Antarctica (East Antarctica, Mawson station area)
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