Sea Lions

By: Morgan Jacobs

Appearance

The sea lion reaches about 400 pounds and is about 6 feet long. Their body shape has a fusiform body shape which makes them sleek and makes them glide through the water easier and faster. The color of sea lions may vary from a tan, dark chocolate color or grey. Their fore flippers are a “wing” like shape and their hind flippers are longer and they help the sea lion the steer which way it goes in the water.

Habitat

The sea lions live on the islands of the Galápagos. You can usually find the sea lions by the rocks and sandy shores. You can also find them out in the ocean by the islands of the Galápagos. Why you can also find them out in the ocean is because they are usually looking for food.

Population

The drop of the population of sea lions started in 1980. In 1980, there were around 300,000 sea lions. Today, there are fewer than 100,000 sea lions. This is one of the main reasons why the sea lion is on the endangered list.

Family

It takes about 11 to 11 and ½ months for a sea lion baby to produce. Baby sea lions are also called pups. Pups are usually born in June, but they are also born in the other months as well. It is most likely for female sea lions to have one pup. Also twins are not seen that often, but twin sea lions have been documented.

Food

Sea lions forage for their food in the ocean. They eat over 50 types of fish and cephalopods. An example of a cephalopod is an octopus. Usually they eat squids, octopi, hake, northern anchovy, opaleye, and herring.

Threats

Why sea lions are endangered is because if they are introduced to any species they don’t know, like a dog, they could get diseases from them. They are also affected by the climate change of the ocean currents. That impacts their fish prey abundance. Lastly, they are victims of bycatch in fisheries.

Help ( What is being done )

The WWF is helping the sea lions by “adopting a sea lion” where you can buy a stuffed sea lion and the money from that goes to the sea lions to help them. The money is also used in a project to help them to stay alive. This is also run through the WWF.

Interesting facts

There are 17 types of sea lions and fur seals. They can swim to speeds of 11 to 24 miles per hour and are able to stay underwater for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. They can also dive into the ocean at depths up to 1,300 feet. Sea lions live for 25 to 35 years in a zoo, but in the wild they live for 10 to 15 year of age.

Cites

https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/california-sea-lion/physical-characteristics
https://a-z-animals.com/animals/sea-lion/
http://www.marinemammal.org/biology/steller-sea-lion/sea-lion-population-decline/
https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/california-sea-lion/diet-and-eating-habits
https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/california-sea-lion/birth-and-care-of-young
http://www.sealion-world.com/types-of-sea-lions/
http://www.sealionsplash.com/sea_lions