We love hearing your stories about encountering seals – sea lions/pakake and fur seals/kekeno on Aotearoa shores! You can reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, via our website or email: seasocietynz@gmail.com. We have observed there is some confusion about which species is which.
In a nutshell, sea lions/pakake primarily reside on beaches – only in the Otago and Southland Regions. Females are called cows, are grey/cream coloured and can weigh up to 160 kg. Males are called bulls, are brown/black coloured with manes that grey as they age and can weigh up to 450 kg. Due to our over-harvesting of them throughout 1791 and 1946, there are only 12,000 remaining.
Fur seals/kekeno primarily reside on rocky shores – from Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua to Stewart Island/Rakiura. Females are called cows, are brown/black coloured and can weigh up to 50 kg. Males are called bulls, are brown/black coloured and can weigh up to 150 kg. Fur seals have two layers of fur and have an oxygen bubble layer in between, to keep their underlayer warm. Miraculously they recovered after sealing was made illegal, and there are now over 100,000 throughout Aotearoa. Photo: Kekeno by Sian Mair, taken in Kaikōura.