The Japanese sea lion (Zalophus japonicus) is thought to have become extinct in the 1970s.
Prior to 2003 it was considered to be a subspecies of California sea lion as Zalophus californianus japonicus. However, it was subsequently reclassified as a separate species. Some taxonomists still consider it as a subspecies of the California sea lion. It has been argued that japonicus, californianus, and wollenbaeki are distinct species because of their distant habitation areas and behavioral differences.
They inhabited the Sea of Japan, especially around the coastal areas of the Japanese Archipelago and the Korean Peninsula. They generally bred on sandy beaches which were open and flat, but sometimes in rocky areas.
Currently, several stuffed specimens can be found in Japan and the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, the Netherlands, bought by Philipp Franz von Siebold. The British Museum possesses a pelt and 4 skull specimens.
Read more about Japanese Sea Lion: Physical Description, Range and Habitat, Lifestyle and Reproduction, Human Uses, Extinction, Population Revival Efforts
Famous quotes containing the words japanese, sea and/or lion:
“In fact, the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people.... The Japanese people are ... simply a mode of style, an exquisite fancy of art.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“There is no sea more dangerous than the ocean of practical politics—none in which there is more need of good pilotage and of a single, unfaltering purpose when the waves rise high.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Even the propagandists on the radio find it very difficult to really say let alone believe that the world will be a happy place, of love and peace and plenty, and that the lion will lie down with the lamb and everybody will believe anybody.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)