Sea Lions

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Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island in South Australia is home to a colony of one of the rarest mammals in the World - the Australian Sea Lion (Nephoca cinerea). I was lucky enough to be able to visit the colony during my recent excursion to Australia. Sea lions are part of the wider family of Pinnipedia, more commonly known as seals. Sea lions are distinguished from other seal species by having visible ears with ear flaps, and by being able to move around on land by walking with their front flippers aided by the back flippers. Just so you get a mental picture of these guys, here is a shot of a mature male or bull sea lion. If you focus in on the closed eye, then move your view diagonally down you can see the small ear flap. The pose is characteristic for the sea lions at this colony with the head and chest pushed up by the flippers, the eyes closed and the nose pointed upwards. Many of the animals we saw adopted this pose - male and female - and kept it for several minutes before slumping down to rest. I have not been able to find out why they do this. Note also the hind portion and the back flippers. The spine can turn to allow those to curl as seen in the shot. This is another characteristic of sea lions, but not other common seals .


Sea Lion Bull by Okavanga


The second shot shows a general view of part of Seal Bay with some sea lions on the shore along with a flock of terns. The sea lions will laze about like this for a few days before returning to the sea where they will hunt for food on the sea floor, traveling a hundred or more kilometers over a period of 3 days before returning. Sea lions like all seals are carnivorous and eat mainly fish, crabs, squid, and shell fish. 


Seal Bay Coast by Okavanga


As well being "fabulously aquatic animals" animals.sandiegozoo.org/animal… sea lions are well known for land based excursions, sometimes travelling for kilometers inland. Those front flippers aided by the mobile hind quarters allow them to scoot along the beach at a fair pace. But, perhaps the most notable land behaviour is seen in the next image: they climb up the sand dunes to rest and sleep in the scrub vegetation, giving rise to sandy pathways through the scrub - well worn by the passage of so many sea lions over time.


Seal Bay Coastal Habitat by Okavanga


My next image shows another, probably younger, bull in that characteristic nose pointing pose. This fellow in particular has a growth of algae on his hind quarters, but that stretched out pose is one reason why large seals including sea lions became the origin of the legend of mermaids. The shape is not a million miles away from that of a reposing human female, at least to sailors starved of female company.


Sea Lion Dwam by Okavanga


These sea lions are said to be very sociable, and tolerate humans very well, so long as you do not approach to closely. At the Seal Bay colony you must be accompanied by an experienced guide and are not allowed to be closer than 10 meters. The next shot gives the impression that the sea lions really couldn't care less.



Sea Lion Family by Okavanga


Mature males usually have a harem of females who look after any pups until maturity. Females as well as the bulls seek sexual encounters and it probably does not take too much imagination as to what is going on in the next image. Females are normally smaller than the males, and lighter in colour. A fully grown male weighs in at about 300 kilos, and can be up to 3 meters in length; the females at about 200 - 250 kilos and up to 2 meters plus. 



Sea Lion Fancy by Okavanga


Mating bull sea lions are notoriously jealous of their harems and will fight off any other males that trespass. But, even when not being threatened, a bull just likes to give out a big roar from time to time - just to show he is still there. The next image shows such a display in a family group with two maturing pups looking on and a mature female fast asleep.


Sea Lion Bull Challenge by Okavanga


I mentioned at the start that these Australian sea lions are one of the world's rarest animals. There is an estimated 14,000 left in colonies around the south and south west coasts of Australia, with about 1000 at the Seal Bay colony. There is no doubt that in the past, Man slaughtered these creatures for food and the leather that could be made from the skin. However, since the 1950s they have been a protected species and some colonies have revived and are expanding. There is, however, an evolutionary glitch associated with this species that is a cause for concern in the long term. Australian sea lions are non-migratory, living and breeding on the beaches where they were born. For a very large colony this may not be disadvantageous, but for smaller colonies such as this one, lack of fresh genetic input, lack of numbers, and any adverse change in food supply can cause irreversible decline. 


To finish, here are two "Aww..." shots - who cannot love these guys?


Sea Lion Pup by Okavanga



Sea Lion Young Female by Okavanga

That's all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed the sea lions.

David aka Okavanga :iconokavanga:

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MaxArceus's avatar
Looks like a lovely place