Rare leopard seal pup taxidermy unveiled at Otago Museum

Tuesday, 24 July 2018

When Giverny Forbes heard a leopard seal had been born on a beach, she took the first flight to Dunedin.

'It was almost like a once in a lifetime opportunity.'

The last recorded case of a leopard seal pup born on mainland New Zealand was in 1977.

The Otago zoology student and Leopardseals.org researcher arrived at night, hours after the pup was born on St Kilda beach in September 2017.

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'I got to see her in the distance.'

Forbes was there the next morning, when the pup's mother returned to the ocean.  While it was unclear if the mother was getting food for her pup, or was abandoning her, she did not return.

The pup was unable to survive without its mother, so the Department of Conservation decided to euthanise it.

Marlborough-based taxidermist Peter Wells completed the taxidermy of the pup. It was given the name Kana - the Ngai Tahu word for 'Spring'.

The pup was officially unveiled at the Otago Museum on Tuesday morning.

Otago Museum director Dr Ian Griffin said it was a special time for the institution.

He hoped Kana - once put on display - would inspire a new generation of people to be interested in the natural world.

Natural Science curator Emma Burns said it was only the second time a leopard seal was born in New Zealand.

The pup was extensively researched and 'she is probably the most imaged seal in the entire world'.

That data would be valuable for researchers wanting to know more about the mammal.

Leopard seals were normally found along the edge of the Antarctic pack ice, but in winter, young animals moved throughout the southern ocean and sometimes visited New Zealand.