NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
South American Fur Seal
Arctocephalus australis (Zimmermann, 1783)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Südamerikanischer Seebär (Arctocephalus australis), fotografiert im Zoo Landau (Rheinland-Pfalz, Deutschland)
4028mdk09 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The South American fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) breeds on the coasts of Peru, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. South American fur seals are of least concern on the IUCN Red List. The total population is around 300,000-450,000. Populations are affected by hunting and environmental stressors.Arctocephalus australis have a dark grey or brown fur coat and are sexually dimorphic. Males compete for territory and females to mate with, forming a dominance hierarchy. Breeding season is from October to December, whereas multiple pups are bred each season. South American fur seals are nocturnal, carnivorous hunters that primarily eat demersal and pelagic fish. They are social and often hunt in groups. Communication within the species occurs through a variety of vocalizations, such as guttural threats, barks, whimpers, or submissive calls from the males and growls or high-pitched wails to gather pups from females. Four subspecies may be recognized: A. a. australis (Falkland Island fur seal), A. a. gracilis (South American fur seal), A. a. forsteri (New Zealand fur seal), and an unnamed species (Peruvian Fur Seal).
Wikipedia contributors, South American fur seal; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:34:01.376382+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Arctocephalus australis (Zimmermann, 1783)
- Name authority
- (Zimmermann, 1783)
- Common name
- South American Fur Seal
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Otariidae
- Genus
- Arctocephalus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderCarnivora Bowdich, 1821
- suborderCaniformia Kretzoi, 1938
- familyOtariidae Gray, 1825
- genusArctocephalus É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & F. Cuvier, 1826
- speciesArctocephalus australis (Zimmermann, 1783)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Arctocephalus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Galapagos Fur SealArctocephalus galapagoensis Heller, 1904 | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Juan Fernández Fur SealArctocephalus philippii (Peters, 1866) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Antipodean fur sealArctocephalus forsteri (Lesson, 1828) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Antarctic Fur SealArctocephalus gazella (Peters, 1875) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown Fur SealArctocephalus pusillus (Schreber, 1775) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Amsterdam fur sealArctocephalus tropicalis (J. E. Gray, 1872) | OtariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Arctocephalus australis australis (Zimmermann, 1783) (Zimmermann, 1783) | synonym |
| Arctocephalus australis gracilis Nehring, 1887 Nehring, 1887 | synonym |
| Phoca australis Zimmermann, 1783 Zimmermann, 1783 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
South America
Western Atlantic Ocean
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180633 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:5VS33. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.