Reconstructed skeleton of extinct Dokdo sea lion goes on display in Seoul

A full-scale reconstruction of an extinct Dokdo sea lion’s skeleton went on public view at Seoul Station, Monday, offering a rare look at the physical structure of a marine mammal wiped out by overhunting in the 20th century. The assembly relies on 41 authentic bone fragments recovered in 2020, with 3D-printed replicas filling in the missing pieces. The exhibition is located on the second-floor concourse of Seoul Station, where it will run through Oct. 25. Jointly organized by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea, the display showcases how modern digital modeling can recreate lost biological specimens for public education. The Dokdo sea lion once inhabited coastal regions across Korea, Japan and Russia, with Ulleung Island and Dokdo serving as its primary habitat and breeding grounds. However, intensive commercial hunting during the early 20th century rapidly depleted its numbers. In 1994, the International Union for Conservation of Nature officially declared the species extinct. To construct the life-sized frame, researchers util