Antarctic fur seal numbers are increasingly challenged as changing climates affect food availability.
Researchers from the British Antartic Society and Bielefeld University in Germany determined that while female seals are being born at a lower weight, only larger seals are more likely to survive changing environmental conditions.
Researchers used decades of monitoring alongside genetic analyis to show that this change means that seal populations are declining, as growing numbers of baby seals do not survive due to fluctuating krill populations – an important food source.
Read more at Bielefeld University