Today we had a visit from Jim Fyfe from the Department of Conservation. Jim came to talk to us about the Hooker Sea lion which is endangered.
In early NZ, Maori hunted seals and sea lions for food, their skins and fur. NZ sea lions were fully protected 130 years ago which suggests that they were endangered then.
In early NZ, Maori hunted seals and sea lions for food, their skins and fur. NZ sea lions were fully protected 130 years ago which suggests that they were endangered then.
Three quarters of pups are born on the Auckland Islands. They are starting to breed more on the mainland. There is concern about the state of the population on the Auckland Islands as the number of pups being born has declined over the last 10 - 12 years which suggests they are dying.
They start breeding at about 4 years old. They only have 9 breeding females at present. They are weaned from their mothers at about 10 months old.
The sea lions are tagged so that they can monitor how old they are and where they go. They have a different colour for each year.
Estimated total around the Otago Coastline (Allens Beach, Pilots Beach, Sandfly Bay, Aramoana, the Catlins) is about 130 - 150. This year there were 5 pups (3 females) born around Otago ( including one in Aramoana.
Sea lions have been found in strange places - Camp ground toilet, by the road, inn a garden, and on a farm.
They like to interact and are very social animals. If confronted don't look them in the eye. Be boring and keep calm as they just come to investigate you. They are just like a dog, they will run up to you and after you if you run. just back off and get out of their space they will move on after 5 or so minutes.
Don't get in between a fur seal and the water because they will get scared and try and head towards the water.
Call DOC if :
- People are persisting in harassing a sea lion
- The sea lion is clearly injured or tangled
- There is a mother and a new born pup
- If you have information about someone harming a pup
New Zealand Sea Lion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| New Zealand Sea Lion | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 New Zealand (Hooker's) Sea Lion | ||||||||||||||||||
| Conservation status | ||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||||
| Phocarctos hookeri (Gray, 1844) |
The New Zealand Sea Lion or Hooker's Sea Lion (Phocarctos hookeri) is a species of sea lion that breeds around the coast of New Zealand's South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura to some extent, and to a greater extent around New Zealand's sub-antarctic islands, especially the Auckland Islands. As one of the larger New Zealand animals, it has been a protected species since the 1890s.
11 comments:
To day Jim fyfe came I learnt that... when you are diving and a seal comes up to you DON`T panic .Don`t make eye contact.But swim away as fast as possible.
The way you can tell a fur seal and a seal is that a fur seal has a flat nose and a seal is smaller then a fur seal.
I learnt that doc put special depth tags on the sea lions to measure how deep they go. By Dylan T.
I learnt how much we inpact sea lions and how many babys the femals have each year. I learnt how to treat a sea lion if it comes near you.By Matt
I learnt that never go in between a fur seal and the water.I also learnt that you can tell the diffrents from a fur seal and a sea lion.
Today we had a visitor to our school called Jim Fyfe. He talked to us about the Hooker Sea Lion.
I learnt that you should not get between a seal and the water as they will charge at you as they will get scared.
I thought that Jim was really intresting because he told me lots of facts that I didn't no about Hooker seals. By Connor P.
Today I learnt to stay away from the water when you are in front of a fur seal because they will boll you over when it is trying to get back to the water were it feels safe.
Connor M
Hooker sealoins can dive up to 300m deep and there are between 130 and 150 of them left on the Otago coastline.By Jakob Morgan.
In Macandrew bay there are hot weather and gleaming sun,but there is a danger amongst us all!!!The Fur Seal,who in the water can be quite violent,because if you are near one it can easily charge through you when it's heading to the rocks
Yesterday a man came in and he taught us all about what to do if you see a seal having trouble:you call DOC and tell him.
Yesterday Jim Fyfe from DOC came to tell us about sea lion's and what you should do when you see them:Call DOC or just leave them alone. by Rowan
Yesterday, Jim came to talk about seals and sea lions. Seals have short whiskers and sea lions have iong whiskers. Never go between a fur seal and the water because if they want to go out into the water they could bowl you over.By Jody
yesterday I learnt that furseals have long whiskers.The amount of sealions are growing around NZ.BY BEN
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