Description New Zealand Sea Lion
Date 25 April 2008
Author Karora https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Karora
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Zealand_Sea_Lion.jpg

The New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri), also known as Hooker's sea lion, and whakahao in Māori, is a species of sea lion that primarily breeds on New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland and Campbell islands and to some extent around the coast of New Zealand's South and Stewart islands. The New Zealand sea lion numbers around 10,000 and is perhaps the world's rarest sea lion species. They are the only species of the genus Phocarctos. Order: Carnivora, Suborder: Pinnipedia, Family: Otariidae, Subfamily: Otariinae, Genus: Phocarctos, Species: Phocarctos hookeri (Gray, 1844).