Researchers found Antarctic fur seals are loyal customers to their favorite feeding grounds

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PARIS: Tasmanian researchers have found Antarctic fur seals are loyal customers when it comes to where they find their food.
Despite the seals travelling thousands of kilometres over winter, they are returning year after year to their favourite feeding haunts.
Professor Mark Hindell from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) said the seals were helping reveal the mysteries of freezing Southern Ocean winters.
“They’re one of the key predators in that part of the ocean and we knew very little about what they were doing particularly during those winter months, which is a really important time for them,” he said.
A Southern Ocean winter can last from April to December.
During that time, the fur seals can travel up to 16,000 kilometres.
Over seven years, researchers from IMAS and international universities tracked the movements of 200 female seals.
PhD student and lead author Ben Arthur said they used small tags attached to the seal’s flipper.