Brown fur seal
Amazing fact
Mother Cape fur seals are thought to recognize their own pups by smell.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Mother Cape fur seals are thought to recognize their own pups by smell.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Brown fur seal
- Scientific name
- Arctocephalus pusillus
- Japanese name
- ミナミアフリカオットセイ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Otariidae
- Genus
- Arctocephalus
Those in southern Australia belong to the same species and are treated as a subspecies, the Australian fur seal.
A fur seal that lives along the coasts of southern Africa and southern Australia.
Under the stiff hairs covering its body grows a dense layer of fluffy underfur.
It eats fish, squid and crabs in waters close to land, and prefers small, rocky islands for giving birth.
How the Brown fur seal lives
It often travels in small groups when feeding. It dives below the surface to find food. A mother gives a loud call when she returns from the sea to her pup. Pups gather together while their mothers are away and play in the evening.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Weight
- 36–360 kgUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Fish, squid, crabs, and other animals鳥羽水族館
- Range
- Southern and southwestern coasts of Africa鳥羽水族館
Where the Brown fur seal has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ミナミアフリカオットセイ
- 简体中文
- 非洲毛皮海狮
- 繁體中文
- 非洲毛皮海獅
- 한국어
- 갈색물개
- Español
- Lobo marino
- Français
- Arctocéphale d'Afrique du Sud
- Deutsch
- Südafrikanischer Seebär
- Português (Brasil)
- Lobo-marinho-australiano
- Italiano
- Otaria orsina del Capo
- العربية
- فقمة الفراء البني
- Tiếng Việt
- Hải cẩu Nam Phi
- Русский
- Капский морской котик
- Türkçe
- Güney Afrika kürklü foku
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ミナミアフリカオットセイChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Arctocephalus pusillusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Otariidae
MORE TO MEET
