WIGGUM DAILY

 

I came across this fellow on my Sunday beach walk. A dead adult CAPE FUR SEAL washed up on the beach. I could not tell if it’s head was missing or just buried under the sand. There were no obvious injuries that I could see. Seemed to be fairly much intact. Was a long way from the water. Looked "fresh" so I reckon it washed up on the high tide the night before. It was a long way up the sand, only 4-5m from the highest tide mark on this beach.

 

            

 

Was a lot bigger than I thought they were. I’d estimate the body to be 120cm long, with another 30-40cm for the "feet" at the back. Very round and big in the body. I couldn’t have wrapped my arms around it. Estimate weight at 80-100kg.  I’ve seen these seals washed up these beaches before, but mostly younger ones about 1/3 the size of this specimen. I tried to include my foot in one picture for scale. Somehow it was bigger in real life than came out in the photo.

 

These fur seals breed just a few km’s from this very spot on the aptly named SEAL ROCKS off the coast of PHILLIP ISLAND.  This is the largest fur seal colony in the southern hemisphere. In fact you can just see Seal Rocks on the horizon of the photos that have the open water in them. The rest of the land on the horizon is Phillip Island. 

 

You can CLICK HERE to view a map of the area and marker pins showing the exact locations of the dead seal in these photos and Seal Rocks where I guarantee this fellow was living happily on until recently.