The size of northern fur seals provides a reliable indication of their population levels -- the smaller the average body size of seals in a population, the larger the population
Archaeologists studied seal fossils covering an 800-year period when the seals were hunted for food by Native peoples in North America and found that the average body size of the seals did not vary significantly
Hunting by Native peoples in North America did not significantly reduce the northern fur seal population over the 800-year period studied.