---
title: "New Zealand Sea Lion"
description: "Phocarctos hookeri — Mammiferi. The New Zealand sea lion, once known as Hooker's sea lion, and as pakake 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."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/new-zealand-sea-lion
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# New Zealand Sea Lion

> Phocarctos hookeri — Mammiferi. The New Zealand sea lion, once known as Hooker's sea lion, and as pakake 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.

- Scientific name: *Phocarctos hookeri*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammiferi)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 3464
- Wikidata: [Q432513](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q432513)
- iNaturalist taxon: [41763](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41763)

## Names

- en: New Zealand Sea Lion
- de: Neuseeländischer Seelöwe
- es: León marino de Nueva Zelanda
- fr: Lion de mer de Nouvelle-Zélande
- nl: Nieuw-Zeelandse zeeleeuw
- pl: Maoryszanka uszata

## Countries with the most observations

NZ (3369)

## Summary

The New Zealand sea lion, once known as Hooker's sea lion, and as pakake 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…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_sea_lion

## Photo

![New Zealand Sea Lion](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/new-zealand-sea-lion/medium.jpg)

Photo: George Cook · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/267284063

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/new-zealand-sea-lion?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).