Photo of the Day 9 January 2008


Cape Fur Seal and Bull Kelp, South Africa, 2002
Photograph by David Doubilet
The sun silhouettes the sinuous form of a Cape fur seal plunging through a forest of bull kelp fronds off the coast of Gansbaai, South Africa. Though clumsy on land, Arctocephalus pusillus, or Cape fur seals, epitomize grace underwater. They patrol the coastal waters of South Africa and southeast Australia, feeding on fish, squid, cuttlefish, and octopus.