A favorite past time for New Zealand Sea Lions is tanning and sleeping in the warmth of the sun on the sandy beach at Molyneux Bay in Otago, New Zealand at low tide. This pair of New Zealand Sea Lions, also known as Hooker's Sea Lions, are very attached and while sleeping, the female's flipper is wrapped over the neck of the male's keeping each other comfortable.
New Zealand Sea Lions love the sandy beaches for hauling out and breeding, sometimes going inland for over 2 kilometers for tranquility while resting and sleeping. These massive animals are only found in New Zealand and are most exclusive to the subantarctic islands when breeding.
The New Zealand Sea Lions are the rarest type of sea lions in the world and numbers once reached about 15,000, but a disease wiped out nearly 2,000 in 1998 and in 2004, there was a count of about 13,000. Most of the sea lions were pups and adult females that were affected by the disease but since that time the numbers seemed to have been on a fairly even par.
Visitors to Molyneux Bay in Otago, New Zealand should be leery of any New Zealand Sea Lions sleeping on the beach and keep their distance as these animals are extremely strong and aggressive when they feel threatened.
New Zealand Sea Lions (also known as Hooker's Sea Lions), Phocarctos hookeri, along the beach in Molyneux Bay in the Catlins along the Catlin's Highway, Southern Scenic Route, Otago, South Island, East Coast, New Zealand.
Picture: "New Zealand Sea Lions Beach Sleeping Molyneux Bay Otago"
Photographer: Rolf Hicker Photography
Photo Name: nzk3s15367 - New Zealand Sea Lions Beach Sleeping Molyneux Bay Otago
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