Before working on the Farallones and St. Paul, I only ever sighted fur seals in the water, typically far out to sea during seabird trips in Monterey. Unlike California sea lions, Steller seal lions, or harbor seals, northern fur seals never haul out on the mainland, and spend all of the non-breeding season at sea. When resting at the surface, the disproportionately long hind flippers of fur seals fold over towards the head, forming a distinctive jug-handle posture. It's believed this position not only provides stability while asleep, but likely aids in thermoregulating their body temperature by circulating blood through the flippers in the sunshine. When they do eventually haul out on their respective breeding islands, instead of trying to warm up in a cold ocean, fur seals cool down by waving those long flippers in the air, dumping heat like the radiator of an automobile. In the rare event of a nice day out here, seeing hundreds of seals waving away on a hot beach is quite the sight.
Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM + 1.4x, ISO-640 f/5.6 @ 1/320 sec.
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