The Cover. Guadalupe fur seals were presumed extinct by the late 1800s owing to harvests for their pelts by commercial sealers. A small number did survive however, and the species has recovered slowly to around 10,000 to 15,000 seals now living primarily in waters of the Pacific Ocean off Mexico. Weber et al. (pp. 144-153) document the genetic consequences of this population bottleneck by comparing genetic variability of pre-bottleneck seals with fur seals from the extant population. (Photo by B. S. Stewart.)
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