S. Georgia & S. Sandwich Islands – Blue Whale – 2 Pounds – 2013 – Br. Uncirculated – Prooflike – As issued by authority of the Government of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in 2013. This legal tender Two Pound coin features the Blue Whale. The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. At almost 100 feet in length and 190 tons or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed. Long and slender, the blue whale’s body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath. As with other baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill. Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966.
Isle of Man – Year of the Ocean – Whale Shark – One Crown – 1998 – Br. Uncirculated – KM-897
Isle of Man – Year of the Ocean – Blue Whale – One Crown – 1998 – Brilliant Uncirculated – KM-897
Nightingale Island – Sub-Antarctic Fur Seal – One Crown – 2011 – Prooflike – Nightingale Island is an active volcanic island that is part of the Tristan da Cunha group. Though it has no permanent inhabitants, Tristan da Cunha has issued this coin for the island to focus attention on the sub-Antarctic Fur Seal. The sub-Antarctic fur seal is medium-sized compared with other fur seals. Males grow to six feet and 350 pounds, whereas females are substantially smaller: four and one-half feet and 110 pounds. Both sexes have distinctive, creamy-orange chests and faces. Males have a dark grey to black back, females are lighter grey and their bellies are more brownish. Pups are black at birth, but molt at about three months. The snout is short and flat. The flippers are short and broad. Sub-Antarctic fur seals live for about 20 to 25 years. About 300,000 of the species are alive today, probably substantially down from when they were first discovered in 1810, as they were hunted for their pelts throughout the 19th century. Due in part to the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, populations are recovering rapidly.
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