Japanese Sea Lion
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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Japanese Sea Lion | status = Conservation status: Extinct{{#if:{{{when|}}}| (1950s) }} | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Mammalia | ordo = Carnivora | familia = Otariidae | subfamilia = Otariinae | genus = Zalophus | species = Z. japonicus | binomial = Zalophus japonicus | binomial_authority = (Peters, 1866) }} The Japanese Sea Lion (Zalophus japonicus or Zalophus californianus japonicus) is thought to have gone extinct in the 1950s. Little is known about them. They were found in marine and coastal areas in the Sea of Japan. They bred in flat, open and sandy beaches and sometimes in rocky areas.
There are various causes for the Japanese Sea Lion's extinction. It was captured for the circus trade, its skin was used for oil, its internal organs were valuable in the making of oriental medicine, and its whiskers were used as pipe cleaners. Many were killed by fishermen, and it is said that during World War II Japanese soldiers used them for target practice.
Many taxonomists do not consider the Japanese Sea Lion a separate species but rather a subspecies of the California Sea Lion.