Recently seven specimens including a complete skull of a monk seal was unearthed in the mudstone cliffs of South Taranaki – like no other.
Monk seals are now extinct; evidence indicates they frequented New Zealand waters three million years ago.
Monk seals would have been two and a half metres in length and have weighed 200 to 250 kilograms.
To put monk seals size into perspective: New Zealand sea lions, who are endangered, are between the 180 – 350 centimetres in length and weigh between 85 – 450 kilograms.
Te Papa Curator Felix Marx stated “New Zealand is incredibly rich in fossils, and so far we have barely scratched the surface. Who knows what else is out there?”
