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Loading Population Growth of Antarctic Fur Seals: Limitation by a Top Predator, the Leopard Seal? Ecology, 79(8), 1998, pp. 2863–2877 1998 by the Ecological Society of America By RONG Hua Antarctic fur seals feeds mainly on krill and various fish species and is preyed upon by other species of seals, killer whales, or sharks. Thus, despite the usual focus on bottom-up forces con-trolling seals and seabirds, there is considerable scope for top-down forces to play important roles. In this paper we examine evidence for control of an Antarctic fur seal population by leopard seals. The Antarctic fur seal population in the South Shetland Islands is presently recovering from early 19th-century commercial exploitation and near extinction. This recovery provides an opportunity to investigate the forces responsible for changes in vital rates (reproduction, mortality, immigration, and emigration) that ultimately determine the relative success of breeding colonies and the fur seal population as a whole. MODEL ASSUMPTIONS: (1) the proportion of the pup cohort born each day is equal to the corresponding probability from a normal distribution of birth dates; (2) there was no leopard seal predation at NA; (3) a constant fraction of the live pups dies each day from causes other than leopard seal predation (e.g., starvation, storms, or crushing by adult males). Conceptual models of the predator–prey relationship between leopard seals and Antarctic fur seals. Strongly density-dependent predation mortality would be capable of maintaining the fur seal population in a ‘‘predator pit’’ at low densities . Leopard seals have many alternatives to fur seals as prey, including other seal species, seabirds, fish, and krill Therefore, the rate of predation on fur seals by leopard seals may be less strongly dependent on prey density than the rate of predation on moose by wolves. Long-term, steady growth rules out certain conceptual models for the predator–prey relationship between leopa