October 23, 2011 |Mongabay.com features a Picture of the Day
several days a week| A male sub-antarctic fur seal on the beach
between Louri and Tassi in Loango National Park, Gabon on
September 1, 2011. Photo by Carolyn Sanguinetti. This is now the
most northerly sighting of this species and only the second time
it has been recorded in Gabon. Last year, a vagrant male was
observed in Mayumba National Park. It is believed that these
individuals may have traveled all the way from Gough Island, the
closest sub-antartic seal colony to Gabon, a mere 4,500 km
(2,800 miles) away! The Sub-Antarctic fur seal has broad
distribution in the southern parts of the Indian and Atlantic
Oceans. Scientists estimate its population at around 300,000.