Endangered Galapagos Seals Migrate to Peru

A colony of approximately three dozen fur seals have left their home haunts in the Galápagos archipelago off Ecuador and settled on tiny Foca Island off Peru's northern coast - more than 1,500 away.

The species, Arctocephalus galapagoensis, breeds exclusively on the Galápagos islands as well as the nearby Isla del Plata. According to the Lima-based Organization for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Animals (ORCA) individual animals sometimes stray away from the islands but this is the first time such a large group of this particular species has migrated this far.

ORCA says that temperature changes in the Pacific prompted the sea lions to move southward. Typically the sea temperature around the Galápagos islands (about 1,000 kilometers west of continental Ecuador) averages around 25 degrees Celsius. But the waters off northern Peru have now heated up to that range as well.

Historically, the influence of the Humboldt Current flowing northward from Antarctica has kept the waters off Peru significantly cooler than those off the coast of Ecuador - usually about 17 degrees Celsius or so. Due to the effects of climate change or El Niño - the sea temperatures off northern Peru have now warmed to about 23 degrees Celsius.

The migration comes at a dangerous time for the unique species. The population of the Galápagos fur seals is estimated at about 40,000 but a decline of 50% over the last 30 years has led them to be classified as endangered. Moreover, El Niño events like the one currently occuring in the Pacific often leads to die offs and a cessation of reproduction.

Other seal species - such as the South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens) and the South American fur seal (Arctocephalus australis) - are quite common off the coast of Peru. In fact, a colony of 8,000 sea lions lives on desert islands in the bay of Lima.

Further south, the Ballestas Islands in the National Reserve of Paracas off the Southern Peruvian coast are home to huge colonies of seals, sea lions and other wildlife.