The New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri), once known as Hooker's sea lion, and as pakake (for both male and female) or whakahao (male) and kake (female) in Māori, is a species of sea lion that is endemic to New Zealand and primarily breeds on New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland and Campbell islands, and have in recent years been slowly breeding and recolonising around the coast of New Zealand's South and Stewart islands. The New Zealand sea lion population estimate is less than 10,000 individuals and fewer than 5,000 breeding adults. This number has declined from an estimated population of over 15,000 in the early 2000s, and it is one of the world's rarest sea lion species.
From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Is it venomous or poisonous?
We have no record of New Zealand Sea Lion being toxic, poisonous or venomous. That is not proof that it is safe. Never eat, touch or handle a wild plant, mushroom or animal on the strength of an identification; ask someone qualified.
Easily confused with
- Neophoca cinerea
- Arctocephalus tropicalis
- Arctocephalus australis
- Callorhinus ursinus
- Arctocephalus pusillus
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Otariidae
- Genus
- Phocarctos
- Species
- Phocarctos hookeri
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