page_title: Otago Peninsula
section_title: Marine mammals
hierarchical_section_title: Otago Peninsula / Natural history / Marine mammals
caption_attribution_description: English: Two sea lions on the beach of Otago Peninsula, New Zealand
context_page_description: The Otago Peninsula is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies south-east of Otago Harbour and runs parallel to the mainland for 20 km, with a maximum width of 9 km. It is joined to the mainland at the south-west end by a narrow isthmus about 1.5 km wide.
  The suburbs of Dunedin encroach onto the western end of the peninsula, and seven townships and communities lie along the harbourside shore. The majority of the land is sparsely populated and occupied by steep open pasture. The peninsula is home to many species of wildlife, notably seabirds, pinnipeds, and penguins, and several ecotourism businesses operate in the area.
context_section_description: Otago Peninsula's coasts are prominent habitats for marine mammals. Seal and sea lion colonies have regenerated during the 20th century after massive exploitation in the 19th century which almost wiped out both them and whales. A number of New Zealand fur seals and Hooker's sea lions currently breed around Taiaroa Head. Otago Peninsula is considered a remarkable and pioneering habitat, especially for sea lions, as it is the only continual breeding ground on a main inhabited island. Southern elephant seals and leopard seals are also known to occur in the area.
  Otago Peninsula is regarded as one of the most favoured of habitats for southern right whales on mainland coasts, both currently and historically. They were seen frequently in the harbor to breed or calve until the arrival of Europeans. They were the primary target species for shore-whaling and was the major cause for Port Otago to be opened. Whales were hunted almost to extinction, and now are seen rarely. They currently appear ossasionally in the harbor. It is thought that an increase of shipping lanes and accompanying underwater noises may help to keep them away. Future studies might be conducted to examine solutions to bring them back into the harbor. On occasions, they can be seen off the coast close to shore in their winter-migration season, along with humpback whales, which were also hunted in the area. Today, quantities of occurrence between these species have become reversed due to drastic difference in biomasses. Taiaroa Head could be the spot with highest possibilities to catch glimpses of these giants. Other Baleen whales that have been confirmed in the area in recent times include blue whales and minke whales.
  Several species of dolphins and small whales also occur constantly around the peninsula; dusky dolphins and endangered endemic Hector's dolphins form strong connections with the area while bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins appears less frequently. The outer peninsula just off Taiaroa Head is one of three main congregating areas for dusky dolphins in New Zealand while the harbour water and the peninsula provides breeding areas and nurseries, and Hector's dolphins frequent the vicinity of the harbour. Orca are also occasionally seen.
  Many other oceanic species such as sperm whales, pilot whales, and several species of beaked whales including the first sightings of Shepherd's beaked whales within the nation and dolphins such as southern right whale dolphins can be found further offshore around the rich, deep sea canyon about 20 km off the peninsula coast which maybe as significant as Kaikoura and rarely strand.
caption: Two sea lions on the beach of Otago Peninsula, New Zealand
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