Translation 2783

• 129
pups collect in croups, which stay apart from the adult males.
_
The
-
adults' moult is prolonged, beginning in i?ebruary anu lasting until •
the end of April. The feeding period lias not been adequately studied,
nor has the composition of the diet.. The stomachs of tnese fur seals
have • een found to contain fishes, cephaloPodsi and small crustaceans.
. y the middle o2 the 19th century the stocks .of Kerguelen fur
seals had been seriously reduced, the animals having bûen killed for
the sake of their beautiful and. valuable fur. At the beginning of
the 20tn century a few hundred were takûn annually, and by 1921 the
fur seal stocks had practically *lost their economic importance ... After
some conservation measures had been adopted tue numbers of.the-seals
began to rise again. New fur seal colonies were observed in the South
Sandwich, South Orkney, and South Shetland Islands. Kerguelen fur
seals began to appear on the west coast of South Island in New Zealand,-
and wore also seen among New Zealand fur seals on ijacquarie Island.
At • present the numbers of the two subspecies of Kerguelen fur
- seals appear to be over 50,000. The most populous . reokeries are those
on Gough Island (over 12,000) and South Georgia iover. 50,000). With
the airs of increasing their numbers the taking of fur seals has been
prohibited on Crozet, St. Paul, and Amsterdwa Islands and in several
parts of Kerguelen Island; thoy can be taken only under licence on
Bouvet Island and the islands belonging to Britain.
Guadalupe Pur Seal (Argtocebhalus philipii.Peters, 1886)
• Adult male Guadalupe fur seals are dark—grey in colour, their
'muzzle is rusty—brown, and their vibrissae are yellow. The body-
length of adult males is about 130 cm. a,,,d their wùight is over 150 kg,
The biological periods of the annual life cycle of this seal are .
almost unknown. It is - believed that parturition and mating by the
majority of the animals take place from ;lay to july,.and thal; the .
lactation period lasts un -til October.
rane is quite limited. Only one fur seal rookery lias
record 0(1 or: Cuadalui)e island,'where the neale breûd, Separate
been
sichtings of toe animels nave been reporteu fro,i Caw: ;:an Nicolas,
Le :..;anta 'Larbara Islands, and riedr as Llancas. Tua ueals live,all'
year round in the sa:ae localities, preferring incentea coasts.
J,cfore intenbive huntio!'; of fur coals b(.!,“ in the 18th
century tO 1V range ma f,; much I/ id Or, ai d >.1.011(10(1 R101,1: t ii j ;lei. fie