Thomas M. Butynski, Philip Mathews, Yvonne A. de Jong
Journal of East African Natural History 114 (1), 1-7, (6 March 2025) https://doi.org/10.2982/028.114.0101
KEYWORDS: Che Shale Bay, dispersal, Kiunga, Pemba Island, Unguja Island, vagrant, Zanzibar
We review the records of the Subantarctic fur seal Arctocephalus tropicalis along the coast of East Africa and present a new record for this region. There are three confirmed records of this species for this region; two in Kenya and one in Tanzania. There is also an unconfirmed record (species identification uncertain) for Tanzania. The Kiunga, Kenya, record is ∼195 km farther north than the earlier published northernmost record for A. tropicalis in Africa (Gabon). With the Prince Edward Islands in the Southern Ocean being the putative source of these vagrants, the seal at Kiunga likely swam >5000 km. These records corroborate the considerable dispersal ability for which A. tropicalis is known and provide a new superfamily, family, genus, and species of large carnivorous mammal for Kenya.