New Zealand seals reveal dangerous appetites: study

The relaxed-looking seals photographed by tourists on New Zealand shores hide a dark secret, according to a study out Monday they love a nice bit of shark.

A Lincoln University study of the DNA in New Zealand fur seal feces has revealed their diet includes sharks -big sharks - and giant squid.

However, the once-endangered seals were picky when they took on the feared predators they just ate the nutrient rich livers of the sharks and some stomach.

Their diet also included commercial fish species, which made up 10 percent of the species identified.

Researcher Associate Professor Adrian Paterson said up to 46 fish, and 18 squid and octopus species were taken at any one sample site.

"The major finding was that seals seem to eat pretty much anything that they come across," Paterson said in a statement.

"Sharks and other cartilaginous fish seemed to be more important than previously thought to fur seals and there is evidence that they can predate even very large sharks, where they take just the choice parts."

However, the DNA method did not reveal the proportion of each species in the diet.

"The commercial species might make up 80 percent of the numbers consumed or 8 percent. So there is potential for conflict with human fishers," said Paterson.

"On the upside, given that the seals appear to be very generalist feeders, it seems unlikely that they would focus on any particular species."

Paterson said the New Zealand fur seal numbers were growing quickly as it came back from the edge of extinction and they were coming into conflict with fishers.

"Knowledge of fur seal diet is essential to conservation and management strategies," he said.

Before the arrival of humans, a population of about 2 million fur seals inhabited New Zealand, but the European sealing for meat and pelts in the 1700s and 1800s pushed them to the brink of extinction.

The current population is estimated at about 200,000, according to the Department of Conservation. Endit