Of the thousands of Fur Seals at the Cape Palliser Seal Colony on the North Island of New Zealand, we were lucky to see these pups resting atop the rocks. As they look at us with their big dark, eyes and small little noses, it is not hard to understand why people find Fur Seal pups so adorable.
An easy way to distinguish if the Fur Seals are still very young is by the long fur that pups are born with which is still very visible on these two. After a few months, the fur will slowly disappear and change into a shorter version that turns into a dark shade of brown as the years pass.
The summer season is the best time to visit Cape Palliser on the North Island of New Zealand as the fur seal pups are still bound to the rocks. Most of them wait patiently along the coastline for the return of their mother who is at sea fishing, as the pups have not learned how to swim yet. Here they will talk back and forth between each other as they work together in their early years. ... continue below the picture...
Cape Palliser is one of the best places to view Fur Seal pups due to the fact that this is the largest colony on the North Island of New Zealand. You can look across the rocks and see Fur Seals spread out as they lounge around while others splash in the water below in search of a good meal.
New Zealand Fur Seal, Arctocephalus forsteri, pups at the Cape Palliser Seal colony, Cape Palliser, Wairarapa, North Island, New Zealand.
Technical Information:
I photographed this photo with the digital SLR camera model Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, aperture of f/6.3, exposure time of 1/100 sec. on ISO 200, as always I used a original Canon Lens, the focus lenght for this picture was 400mm.