Fur seals were by far the most aggressive seal encountered. Whether it is a legacy from the dreadful days of the late 1800's/early 1900's or its just their nature, these seals had no qualms about letting you know you were getting too close - and chasing you off! They can swing their back legs forward and move across land at a surprising velocity, startling many passengers who quickly discovered that Fur seals have a much larger definition of personal space than the 5m defined by the IAATO rules!

Who is scared of who??
St Andrews Bay, South Georgia

King Penguins seem largely indifferent to the agressive antics of their neighbours on the beach. At one time, I saw a fur seal begin to chase a young adult King Penguin. It immediately reared up on its legs and began flapping its wings in the fur seals face. It quickly backed down...

Playing hide and seek in tussock grass
Grytviken, South Georiga

The fur seal population at South Georgia was nearly decimated by sealers by the early 20th century, and they have been quietly recovering over the last century. It is only since the 1990s that the fur seal has recovered and is currently doing considerable damage to the coastline and nesting albatross as they struggle to find space on the beaches. Their population explosion is probably largely a result of fewer whales in the ocean competing for their main food source, krill. Unfortunately, the whaling industry, which didn't stop until the 1950s, in the area also nearly wiped out the whale population.

At this time, there is a large debate going on about whether or not the fur seals should be kulled, but given man's desperately poor record for animal management, an equally vocal group believe that over time, nature will redress the over population of fur seals, hopefully as whales recover their former numbers.

Blonde seal pup
Grytviken, South Georgia

According to those venerable scientists at the British Antarctic Survey base at Grytviken, 1 in 300 seals is born blonde. That said, of the thousands seen on South Georgia, I only saw two...

Pups amongst the whaling debris
Stromness Bay, South Georgia

These pups were only a few weeks old but had already been given the run of the beach as their mothers went off in search of food (the male fur seals having long since left the scene!). Here, they are sheltering amongst the huge ship props scattered along the beach from the whaling days.

Camouflaged seal
Paulet Island

This cheeky seal crept along a snow bank that was just behind the zodiac landing area. We watched the black and white speckled seal stop and start as it slid along the bank until it was a few meters away. It paused, then gracefully slid down before suddenly rushing at us, barking madly to try and get us to retreat into the water...