Japanese sea lion

The Japanese sea lion is an aquatic mammal thought to have become extinct in 1974. Prior to 2003, it was considered to be a subspecies of the California sea lion. However, it was subsequently reclassified as a separate species. Some taxonomists still consider it as a subspecies of the Californian sea lion. It inhabited the Sea of Japan (East sea), the Pacific ocean, coastal areas of the Japanese archipelago, the Korean peninsula, the Kuril islands, and the Southern tip of the Kamchatka peninsula. This picture of a Japanese sea lion was taken in The Tennoji zoo, Osaka, Japan. So far, Japan has reported the extinction of 110 animal species. Thousands of these sea lions were harvested in Japanese commercials in the early 1900's. Over hunting caused harvest numbers to fall by 300 sea lions by 1915 and a few dozen by the 1930's. The Japanese sea lion is one of my 4 favorite extinct animals of Japan. There are 6 recently extinct marine mammals and they are the Baiji, Japanese river otter, Japanese otter, Caribbean monk seal, Japanese sea lion, and Sea mink. In 2007, the South Korean ministry of environment has announced that Korea, Russia, and China will collaborate on bringing back the Japanese sea lion in the Sea of Japan or East sea. The 1st year of its extinction was in 1950, then 1965, and then 1974. The last one was seen in Rebun island in Hokkaido. I was on my trip to Lake Tomahawk and that's why I haven't been making posts for a week. I was looking forward to make posts about prehistoric wolves and wolf-like creatures. At least I kept that all in my head on my whole trip. I've been going to Lake Tomahawk since 2012 on August and July.