The seals of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies

The Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey has established and maintained a number of antarctic bases since 1945. They are located on the Graham Land peninsula, in the South Shetland and South Orkney Islands, and at South Georgia; over the years a great deal of general information about the various species of seals has accumulated. I have spent a total of thirty-six months in the Dependencies between 1948 and 1951 and some weeks in the Falkland Islands, occupied with a special study of the elephant seal, although opportunities were taken for work on other species. As a result we now have a fairly comprehensive picture of the status of the various pinniped species in this sector of the southern oceans.