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Sea lion australia🦭

Photo: Cody Pope · CC BY-SA 2.5

SpeciesCarnivoraOtariidae
Carnivores

🦭Australian sea lion

Neophoca cinerea (Péron, 1816)

The Australian sea lion, also known as the Australian sea-lion or Australian sealion, is a species of sea lion that is the only endemic pinniped in Australia. It is currently monotypic in the genus Neophoca, with the extinct Pleistocene New Zealand sea lion Neophoca palatina the only known congener. With a population estimated at 14,730 animals, the Wildlife Conservation Act of Western Australia (1950) has listed them as "in need of special protection". Their conservation status is listed as endangered. These pinnipeds are specifically known for their abnormal breeding cycles, which are varied between a 5-month breeding cycle and a 17-18-month aseasonal breeding cycle, compared to other pinnipeds, which fit into a 12-month reproductive cycle. Females are either silver or fawn with a cream underbelly, and males are dark brown with a yellow mane and are bigger than the females.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
11
vs you
≈ 3.1× your weight
Also called
Australian Sealion
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2015.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
189 kg
Body length
2.15 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
24 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Australian sea lion

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
189 kgrecord 300 kg · SeaLifeBase
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female105 kgSeaLifeBasev25.04SeaLifeBase populates Weight independently of Length; the two are not guaranteed to describe the same individual. Verify before publishing.

Figures vary

  • 190 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
2.15 m
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female1.8 mSeaLifeBasev25.04

Figures vary

  • 2.5 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Brain mass
403 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
24 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 24 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
13 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
4.3 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
312 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 258 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Omnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
189 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Australian sea lion yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyOtariidae
  6. ›genusNeophoca
  7. ›speciesNeophoca cinerea
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. familyOtariidae
  4. genusNeophoca
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderCaniformia
  13. familyOtariidae
  14. genusNeophoca
More

More about the Australian sea lion

What it eats
fish100%
In other languages
Australischer Seelöwe (de), Ausztráliai oroszlánfóka (hu), أسد البحر الأسترالي (ar), lleó marí australià (ca), lachtan šedý (cs), Neophoca cinerea (es) … and 19 more languages
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