LEOPARD SEAL: FUR SEAL 255 



The flesh of the leopard seal is very good eating and was always a welcome addition 

 to our larder during the winter. The brains, tongue, heart and liver are the best parts. 



No information was collected as to the pairing habits or period of gestation of the 

 leopard seal owing to its solitary and wandering mode of life. 



The sealing licences allow the taking of leopard seal, and the annual catch is usually 

 between fifty and one hundred. The blubber is not thick enough to produce much oil; 

 neither does the price realised pay for preserving the skins, so that this species is not 

 of particular interest to the sealer. It has been stated^ that the leopard seal is a 

 "ferocious pest, which preys on penguins as well as fish, and any diminution in its 

 numbers may, perhaps, be viewed with equanimity ". No reason is given for preferring 

 penguins or fish to leopard seal. 



Fur Seal, Arctocephalus australis, Zimm. 



This species was formerly numerous in South Georgia, but is now practically 

 extinct. In 1822 Weddell calculated that not less than 1,200,000 fur-seal skins had 

 been taken there since 1775 and stated that they were then almost extinct. In 1874- 

 1450 skins were taken, 600 in 1875 and no in 1876. One fur seal was seen in 1885 

 or 1886 and three were taken in 1887. In 1892, 135 were taken. In 1905 a sealing- 

 vessel could find none, but a few were taken in 1907. Larsen^ states that 170 were 

 caught in 1906, and 30 were seen together in 191 1 . Since then a few scattered examples 

 have been seen, the latest being two on Willis Island in 1927. 



1 Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Research and Development in the Dependencies of the 

 Falkland Islands, Cmd. 657, p. 17, iqzo. 



~ D. S. Jordan, Fur Seals of the Pribilof Islands, ill, p. 307, Washington, 1899. 

 ^ Loc. cit. supra, 1920, p. 92. 



