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What the sources say

Antarctic Fur SealArctocephalus gazella

Every figure, record and mechanism on the Antarctic Fur Seal profile was written from a source, and this is the working table behind it: 10 claims checked word for word against these sources. The left column is what the page says. The right column is the source's own words, copied, not paraphrased; a ... marks a cut and[brackets] an insertion. Open any source and check it yourself.

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Source
01

Forcada 2026

Forcada (2026). Arctocephalus gazella. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2026: e.T2058A293563664.

The page saysEndangered
The source saysIUCN Red List category: Endangered (EN).Note: backs stats.conservationStatus. Read at iucnredlist.org in Chrome on 2026-09-15: 'Endangered A2b', ver 3.1, date assessed 01 February 2026, year published 2026.
The page sayscame back from commercial extinction
The source saysHistorical unregulated exploitation of Antarctic Fur Seals reduced the global population from millions to commercial extinction.Note: tagline. Hand check: the assessment's Justification, read in Chrome 2026-09-15; the recovery is the next claim's quote.
The page saysis now declining again
The source saysHowever, this peak has been followed by declines, which are ongoing at South Georgia, Bouvetøya and especially the South Shetland Islands.Note: tagline. Hand check: Justification, read in Chrome 2026-09-15.
The page sayscame back from the edge once, and is sliding again
The source saysHowever, this peak has been followed by declines, which are ongoing at South Georgia, Bouvetøya and especially the South Shetland Islands.Note: Hand check: Justification, read in Chrome 2026-09-15. The recovery half rests on the 'fast recovery' quote below.
The page sayshunted the species from millions of animals down to commercial extinction
The source saysHistorical unregulated exploitation of Antarctic Fur Seals reduced the global population from millions to commercial extinction.Note: Hand check: Justification, read in Chrome 2026-09-15.
The page saysthe survivors bred fast on plentiful food and the colonies came roaring back
The source saysWhen sealing ceased, high reproductive success and locally abundant food supplies resulted in a fast recovery, particularly in the South Atlantic region of the Southern Ocean.Note: Hand check: Justification, read in Chrome 2026-09-15.
The page saysbreeding-age adults worldwide fell from about 2.2 million in 1999 to about 940,000 in 2025
The source saysThe global population has dropped from an estimated 2,187,424 (SD 153,141) mature seals in 1999 to 943,756 (SD 89,727) in 2025Note: Hand check: Justification, read in Chrome 2026-09-15. 2,187,424 rounds to 2.2 million and 943,756 to about 940,000; 'mature' is written as breeding-age adults. The same paragraph calls earlier global totals 'speculative, unverified numbers', which is why the old 'over four million' went.
The page saysin 2026 the IUCN Red List listed the species as Endangered
The source saysIUCN Red List category: Endangered (EN).Note: The year is the assessment's: date assessed 01 February 2026, read in Chrome.
The page sayshome to more than 90% of the world's fur seals
The source saysAt South Georgia, which currently holds 90+% of the global populationNote: Hand check: Justification, read in Chrome 2026-09-15.

Source
02

Forcada 2021

Forcada (2021). Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella, Peters 1875). Ecology and Conservation of Pinnipeds in Latin America, Springer (abstract via the British Antarctic Survey).

The page saysScientists think climate change is squeezing the food supply around South Georgia
The source saysMost of the world population occurs at South Georgia, where some colonies are declining because of climate effects on the food supply.Note: The 2026 assessment hedges the same cause: 'The ongoing population declines are thought to be a response to environmental changes, particularly at South Georgia and the Scotia Sea.'

How the table was made: a writer drafted the profile from these sources and logged each claim with its quote, a reviewer with nothing but this table checked every sentence said no more than its quote, and a script confirmed each quote appears word for word in the source. The method is in the site'sAbout page.