Australian and New Zealand fur seals

Seals around Australia.

Follow public seal observations from Australia. Browse published records, explore the places and stories behind them, or share an encounter with the Seal Watch team.

Meet the Australian fur seal → · Meet the New Zealand fur seal →

Total reports
30
Latest observation

Public reports · newest first

Public records archive

12 August—26 August

Reset filters

3 of 30 reports

Loading public records…

Explore by area

Markers represent broad named areas, never exact observation locations. Select an area to filter the archive.

N ↑New South Wales · 1 reports1Queensland · 1 reports2Western Australia · 1 reports3

Map: Natural Earth.

Reports over time

All dates

Select a year, then a month. Counts describe published reports; one animal may appear in several reports.

  1. 22020
  2. 32021
  3. 32022
  4. 32023
  5. 32024
  6. 32025
  7. 132026

Months in 2026

  1. 2Jan
  2. 3Feb
  3. 0Mar
  4. 1Apr
  5. 0May
  6. 1Jun
  7. 3Jul
  8. 3Aug
  9. 0Sep
  10. 0Oct
  11. 0Nov
  12. 0Dec

Grouped by each record’s archive date. Approximate dates keep their original labels in the records below.

  1. Date: 2026
    Place: Coolum Beach Queensland
    Reported: Dolly Coolum Advertiser; Sunshine Coast News

    Observation: A young fur seal nicknamed Dolly began resting on rocks at Coolum on 26 August. Aquarium staff assessed it as probably a juvenile long-nosed fur seal; its sex was not confirmed. Later reports describe the same visit.

  2. Date: 2026
    Place: Seal Island, off Rockingham Western Australia
    Reported: Unidentified Nomadic Naturalists

    Observation: An observer reported watching one male Australian sea lion through a telescope at Seal Island. It was seen resting and stretching during the dated outing.

  3. Date: 2026
    Place: Narooma New South Wales
    Reported: Unidentified TNLHK, Wikimedia Commons

    Observation: An original photograph is captioned as a seal at Narooma. The file's EXIF metadata dates the photograph to 12 August 2026. The caption does not identify its species.