Shakira has been attacked by a sea lion.

The 'She Wolf' singer went out for a day trip to see the creatures in the their natural habitat but things took a terrifying turn when one of the fin-footed mammals bit her.

Shakira had gone down onto a rock to get closer to the animals and their seal cousins when the aggressive sea lion leapt onto the rock and attacked, but luckily her quick-thinking cousin "Super Tony" dragged her away from the vicious beast.

In a post on her Facebook page entitled 'Special Report: Attacked by a Sea Lion', she wrote: "Omg what just happened to me! I was attacked by a sea lion!

"This afternoon I happened to see some sea lions and seals. I thought to myself how cute they were so I decided to get a bit closer than all of the other tourists and went down to a rock trying to pet them doing a baby talk while taking pictures...

"Suddenly, one of them jumped out of the water so fast and impetuously that it got about one foot away from me, looked me in the eye, roared in fury and tried to bite me.

"Everyone there screamed, including me. I was paralyzed by fear and couldn't move, I just kept eye contact with it while my brother "Super Tony" jumped over me and literally saved my life, taking me away from the beast.

"We both got our hands and legs scratched by the rocks while trying to protect ourselves. (sic)"

Despite her frightening ordeal, the 35-year-old pop star believes she was at fault for the sea lion's behaviour because she thinks the animal mistook her BlackBerry device for a fish.

She added: "I believe what happened is that it confused the shiny reflection of the blackberry I was taking these pics with, with some sort of fish. It probably thought I was teasing it with food and then taking it away from it.

"Wow! It's funny that only half an hour before I was complaining to my guide Andrew that I never get to see wild animals up close on adventurous trips. Oh well, I can't say that anymore! (sic)"

Shakira hasn't been put off from visiting more animals on her vacation and enjoyed a far less dramatic day out to see penguins.

She revealed: "Today with the penguins! Definitely friendlier!"