New Zealand Sea Lion (scat)

Description:

Known as Rāpoka in Māori, the New Zealand Sea Lion is endemic to New Zealand and one of the rarest Sea Lions in the world. On the sand below where this female Sea Lion is snoozing was her scat. It just looks as though someone poured muddy water on the ground.

Habitat:

On the sand below where this female was snoozing at Smails Beach, Dunedin.

Notes:

It was a reasonably cool day with cloud cover. Bit of a breeze on arrival which picked up a bit and there was a light sprinkle when leaving the beach. Information about "DNA extraction from scat samples": https://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handl... Further reading: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/3398...