On my visit to New Zealand I made a point to visit Dunedin, for it’s wildlife watching.

I saw penguins there, which was my main draw, but the New Zealand Fur Seals were a big attraction as well.

A little more than a hundred years ago, these fur seals were hunted to near extinction by the Maori people. Thankfully, today there is a growing population near Dunedin, around the Otago Peninsula.

It was late-November when I visited and we were lucky enough to see a number of newborn fur seals, even some that had just been born that day! (Kind of gross with the placenta still lying on the rocks.)