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Seals
Seal Rocks is home to more than 20,000 seals, making it Australia’s largest Australian Fur Seal colony! You can see seals here all year round, with females (cows), pups and juveniles making up most of the colony. The mature males (bulls) visit the rocks during the summer breeding season.
See the Seasonal cycle to find out what you are likely to see when you join our Seal Watching Cruise.
Some interesting facts about the Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pussilus doriferus):
- They are the largest of the worlds’ fur seals. Bulls grow to a maximum of 250cm and weight up to 360kg, while cows grow to about half that size (max 1.2m, and 110kg).
- They are mammals; they are born live and pups feed on milk for at least 6 months.
- They are perfectly designed for marine living; streamlined and well insulated body, and fast swimming allows them to dive up to 200m and stay underwater for up to 7 minutes.
- They are excellent hunters; they have big eyes with sharp underwater focus, many whiskers, large lung capacity, webbed flippers, and two layers of fur to keep them warm while chasing prey.
- Their diet consists mainly of small fish, squid and the occasional octopus or crayfish.
- Seals spend a lot of time resting on land between feeding trips. When in the water, they swim to cool down, to play and to be social. They ‘wave’ their flipper in the wind to let water evaporate and cool their body temperature.
- Kanowna Island which can be seen on our Wilsons Prom Cruise supports a large number of Australian Fur Seals, as well as a small number of Long Nosed Fur Seals (Arctocephalus forsteri).
