Photo of the Day 199

Cape Fur Seal and Bull Kelp, South Africa, 2002

Photograph by David Doubilet

A young Cape fur seal forages amid bull kelp near Gansbaai, South Africa. The large numbers of great white sharks here, drawn by huge seal populations, give Gansbaai the unofficial title of Great White Capital of the World. Great whites rarely enter kelp forests, and fur seals seek them out as refuges from their arch nemeses.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Oceans of Plenty: South Africa's Teeming Seas," August 2002, National Geographic magazine)

Photo of the Day 102

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.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Oceans of Plenty: South Africa's Teeming Seas," August 2002, National Geographic magazine)