For the first time, Galapagos fur seals have set up a colony away from the islands made famous by English naturalist, Charles Darwin.

Sea conditions around northern Peru have become so like those around the Galapagos Islands that a colony of fur seals has moved away and set up home in the northern Peruvian provinces of Piura and Tumbes where, according to the Peruvian Geophysics Institute, sea temperatures have risen from an average of 17C to 23C over the last 10 years.

It is expected other fur seal colonies and new marine species will follow this lead now that the sea conditions are so similar; the sea temperature around the Galapagos averages at about 25C.

A natural assumption might be that this is the fur seal adapting to climate change, however experts have stated is is often too simplistic to blame such migrations solely on climate change.

Visitors often mistake the Galapagos fur seal for a sea lion and indeed their name is confusing as the sea lion is a close relative. There are a number of minor differences that help identification. They are smaller in size and the head resembles that of a bear. Their front flippers are larger making them better climbers as they prefer rockier, more rugged shores to the sea lion.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Discoveries, Mammals, Ocean. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.