New Zealand's newest citizens like the solitary life, have leopard-like markings, and can each weigh up to 600kg

Leopard seals have gone from being classified officially as vagrants, to residents in New Zealand.

NIWA cetacean biologist Dr Krista Hupman attributes this largely to Owha who made the Waitemata Harbour her home in 2012.

Since then, Owha has been an ambassador for her species, moving between Dunedin, the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Whangarei sleeping on pontoons and wallowing in the shallows.

Leopard seals are primarily known as an Antarctic species, widely distributed throughout the Antarctic pack ice and second only to killer whales in the list of Antarctica's top predators