New Zealand sea lion
| New Zealand sea lion | ||||||||||||
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New Zealand sea lion ( Phocarctos hookeri ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Phocarctos | ||||||||||||
| Peters , 1866 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Phocarctos hookeri | ||||||||||||
| ( Gray , 1844) |
The New Zealand sea lion ( Phocarctos hookeri ) is a large eared seal that is native to the subpolar zone .
features
The bulls are black-brown in color and reach a size of 2.45 meters; a shoulder mane makes them look massive. The cows are more delicate: they are light brown and no more than 2 meters long.
distribution
The colonies are found in the south of New Zealand on the sub-Antarctic islands : the Auckland Islands , the Snares Islands and the Campbell Island . 95 percent of the world's stocks are found in three colonies on the Auckland Islands. In contrast, colonies are extremely rare on the coasts of New Zealand's South Island . Especially outside of the breeding season, these sea lions come to the coasts of the New Zealand South Island, rarely the North Island .
Way of life
On the coasts, every male tries to defend a territory against his peers. There is fierce fighting in which only the strongest bulls can survive; around 80% of all males are forced to give up or to a hopeless place on the edge of the colony. The females that go ashore in the vicinity of a bull form its harem, with which it can mate.
Young animals are brought inland into the vegetation zone by the females ; on the islands this is not dangerous for the young due to the lack of predators.
Threat and protection
There are around 10,000 to 15,000 individuals of this species. The original status is unknown, but it is likely that the New Zealand sea lion was much more abundant at one time and also had colonies on mainland New Zealand. In the 19th century, many sea lions were killed by seal hunters. The sea lions of the Auckland Islands were completely destroyed in just twenty years after the islands were discovered in 1806. Today the Auckland Islands are a deserted seal sanctuary where the populations have largely recovered.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Web links
- Phocarctos hookeri in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Seal Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 11 May, 2006.