Hooker's Sea Lion

Description:

The New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri), also known as Hooker's sea lion, and whakahao in Māori, is a species of sea lion that primarily breeds on New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands and to some extent around the coast of New Zealand's South and Stewart Islands. Recent DNA information indicates the New Zealand sea lion is a lineage previously restricted to subantarctic regions. Somewhere between 1300 and 1500 AD, a genetically distinct mainland lineage did not survive hunting by the first human settlers, and the subantarctic lineage has since then gradually filled the ecological niche. The New Zealand sea lion is probably the world's rarest sea lion and numbers around 10,000. On the Auckland Islands, three functioning rookeries are found. Most sea lions are born on Dundas Island. A smaller rookery exists at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island and the smallest rookery is on Figure of Eight Island. An even smaller rookery at South East Point on Auckland Island appears to now have been abandoned. The other major breeding area is the Campbell Islands. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealan...)

Notes:

Spotted on Sandfly Bay, Otago Peninsula, New Zealand.