A juvenile elephant seal plays at the Kaikorai Estuary, Dunedin, on Wednesday afternoon.
The seal was previously seen lounging in the sands at St Kilda Beach a month ago.
Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Jim Fyfe said it had been coming and going from local areas and had spent about a week in both St Kilda and at Kaikorai earlier, but had been seen as far as Sunnyvale.
![A juvenile elephant seal playing at the Kaikorai Estuary. Photo / Gregor Richardson](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/37DZPXFO2VEQ3JAEQAAYC32QCE.jpg?auth=01e1433244c616c44a72fb30828dfdf221badd13f20639adf0bcecc6cdfd5e70&width=16&height=10&quality=70&smart=true)
When first seen, the pinniped was in the early stages of moulting, but now seemed to be in the final stages.