North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Leopard seal Owha moves to sunny North
Auckland’s resident leopard seal Owha is now living it up in Whangarei, and there could be more of her kind coming to join her.
Leopard seals have long been regarded as an Antarctic species, but Owha’s love for New Zealand waters has prompted NIWA scientists to question that.
NIWA biologist Krista Hupman said she believed leopard seals could be a lot more common in our waters than previously thought. ‘‘People call leopard seals a ‘vagrant species’ which means New Zealand is well outside of their normal range, but this research shows that this is not the case for all leopard seals, and that these animals may have been here a lot longer and are a lot more common than we know,’’ she said.
Owha was a fixture in Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf for about 18 months, from mid-2015, being spotted on beachs, the Westhaven and Bayswater marinas, Warkworth, Great Barrier, Waiheke and other Hauraki Gulf Islands. During Owha’s time at Westhaven marina, Hupman and her colleagues monitored the seal.
‘‘We had very dedicated volunteers at the marina seven days a week, members of the public calling in and logging sightings on different apps as we tried to find out where she was, what she was doing and how long she stayed in one place,’’ Hupman said.
Hupman has since learnt that Owha has been in New Zealand for at least five years. ‘‘That is the longest continuous record anyone has of a leopard seal, even in Antarctica.’’
Owha has since moved on to Whangarei, but Hupman, the Orca Research Trust and Department of Conservation rangers have continued to track her movements further north. She’s enjoying life up north, eating fish, little blue penguins and shags, Hupman said. She’s also a fan of visiting boats in the marina - particularly those with dogs on board.
‘‘She’s very smart and curious and just wants to see what’s going on’’.
Hupman’s research found there have been around 500 sightings of leopard seals in New Zealand waters since the 1860s.
The number of leopard seals making it to New Zealand waters has prompted Hupman to set up an 0800 number (0800 LEOPARD) for people to report seal sightings.