Оңтүстік Австралия мен Жаңа Зеландияның түкті иті (Arctocephalus forsteri)

Species of carnivore

Arctocephalus forsteri (common names include the Australasian fur seal, South Australian fur seal, New Zealand fur seal, Antipodean fur seal, or long nosed fur seal) is a species of fur seal found mainly around southern Australia and New Zealand. as of 2014, the common name long nosed fur seal has been proposed for the population of seals inhabiting Australia. Males can be long. Females are between 30 and 50 kg (66 110 lbs) on average, and can be as long as Newborn pups are 3.3–3.9 kg (7.3 8.6 lbs) on average, and between 40 and 55 cm (1.3 1.8 ft) long. At 290 days old males are about , and females are about They have a pointy nose with long pale whiskers.

The species occurs in Australia and New Zealand. It is found in the coastal waters and on the offshore islands of southern Australia, from the south west corner of Western Australia to just east of Kangaroo Island in South Australia, and also in southern Tasmania and the subantarctic Macquarie Island. Small populations are forming in Bass Strait and coastal waters of Victoria and New South Wales as far as the mid north coast. Before the arrival of humans in New Zealand, the species bred around all the New Zealand mainland and its subantarctic islands. There are now established and expanding colonies around the entire South Island, on Stewart Island and all of the New Zealand subantarctic islands. There are also newly established breeding colonies on the North Island. Diving behaviour by the pups begins in the months leading up to weaning, when the pups are nursing less. The pups begin to dive from the age of 6–10 months, yet weaning is known to occur between the ages of 8 and 11 months, so the young pups do not have much time to learn to forage. The pups need to progressively develop nocturnal diving skills while they still have their mothers' milk to fall back on if dives are unsuccessful. Age, physiological development, and experience are important factors for success in hunting and contribute to the development of the pups' diving ability and behaviour. This transitional period, when young pups are becoming nutritionally independent while their foraging efficiency is rather low, is a time of high risk, and mortality can be very high. Based on scat samples, it has been found that the pups start by eating cephalopods and eventually making their way to fish, but this may just be a result of prey availability during different times of the year.

In New Zealand, the species is protected by the Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978, which works to conserve marine animal species; it specifies that all wild pinnipeds cannot be touched or fed.