It's been a very different Christmas Day for a group of researchers stationed on New Zealand's sub-Antarctic islands.
Sunday marks the busiest day of the birthing season for the critically endangered New Zealand sea lion.
Newshub travelled to their breeding grounds on Enderby Island, 450 kilometres south of Bluff.
From the moment the mothers touch their pup they will form a special bond, duty-bound to protect the defenceless newborn from the dangers all around.
But there are some things she can't see.
"About 60 percent of the pups that die each year die of a bacterial disease that causes meningitis, an infection of the brain, an infection of the joints," says sea lion researcher Sarah Michael.
Ms Michael leads a three-person team trying to find out more about the mysterious bacterial disease klebsiella.
They don't know how, but over the next three months, it will infect 20 percent of the pups - one in every five - and it kills every pup it infects.
"On post-mortem we would normally see pus around the brain and in the joints, sometimes in the lungs, in the skin," says Ms Michael.
Three-hundred pups will be born in the birthing season, between December and January. The researchers plan to catch every single one of them, marking them, swabbing them and checking for signs of klebsiella.
The study comes with a sacrifice - four months stationed at their breeding grounds on Enderby Island, sharing a series of tiny huts with other research teams.
There's a roast on Christmas Day, but they'll have to eat it quickly. December 25 is also the biggest birthing day of the season.
"In one sense, you're living in the middle of nowhere and in another sense you're living in someone else's pocket," says research assistant Thomas Burns.
For Ms Michael, it's all worth it for a chance to uncover how the sea lions come into contact with the killer disease.
The New Zealand sea lion is now the rarest species in the world, with only around 10,000 left in existence.
"There's a chance they could become extinct," says Ms Michael. "They're nationally critical in New Zealand, which is the highest threat classification."
This tiny New Zealand outpost is a frontline in the battle against time.
Newshub.
