Guide fends off an aggressive male fur seal
- 6 years ago
A guide fended off an aggressive male fur seal with two walking poles in South Georgia.
Most of the world’s population of Antarctic fur seals breed on South Georgia. Dominant males (bulls) form territories in late October to mid-November and try to keep up to 20 females inside it.
Bulls aggressively defend their territories from other males, and some bulls die from their wounds.
After weaning their pups, female seals return to sea and most males do so, too.
But some bulls remain ashore and can be a hazard to visitors because they sometimes charge intruders.
Fur seals have strong jaws and large yellow teeth – a bite causes a very serious wound.
Charging male fur seals may be repelled by shouting, clacking rocks together, flapping jackets and, as a last resort, whacking their long whiskers with a walking pole.
The video was filmed on November 2015.
Most of the world’s population of Antarctic fur seals breed on South Georgia. Dominant males (bulls) form territories in late October to mid-November and try to keep up to 20 females inside it.
Bulls aggressively defend their territories from other males, and some bulls die from their wounds.
After weaning their pups, female seals return to sea and most males do so, too.
But some bulls remain ashore and can be a hazard to visitors because they sometimes charge intruders.
Fur seals have strong jaws and large yellow teeth – a bite causes a very serious wound.
Charging male fur seals may be repelled by shouting, clacking rocks together, flapping jackets and, as a last resort, whacking their long whiskers with a walking pole.
The video was filmed on November 2015.