Fun Facts: Sea Lions

I got to meet some pretty awesome Sea Lions today,

And I have all this sea lion knowledge swirling around in my brain, 

and well, I guess I might as well share!

Sea Lions, not to be confused with their close cousins the walrus, or the seal, is an aquatic beasty-beauty.
These mammals can reach 8 to 10 feet in length, and can weigh a good 700 pounds! Granted depending on the sea lion you meet, their size can vary.
In some cases they've found sea lions that are even 1,000+ pounds.







Generally, the males are bigger than females and show quite a bit of dominance.


These lions of the sea are often described as having a
'torpedo-like body'
and just so happen to be powerful, graceful, and even acrobatic swimmers.

You can find these guys all over water-areas.
They've been known to live in California and even up into the Canadian coasts.
You can find them just about everywhere! Accept for the northern Atlantic ocean, (which, even researchers can't even figure out why the sea lions don't live there!) 

How do I tell the difference between Sea Lions, Seals, and Walruses? - Well, that's easy! Walruses have big tusks, it's easy to distinguish them from the others, who do in fact not have tusks :)

Here is a little list to help you tell the difference between Seals and Sea Lions (they just looks so similar, don't they?):

SEA LIONS:

• Earflaps
• Long hairless foreflippers
• Hindflippers rotate underneath to allow them to walk on land
• Swim underwater using foreflippers like wings of a bird
• Long smooth whiskers or vibrissae

SEALS:

• Earholes
• Short, hairy foreflippers & long claws
• Move on land by wiggling on belly & keep hindflippers straight out
• Swim by steering with foreflippers and powering with hindflipers
• Whiskers are crimped or beaded

Sea Lions luckily really only have two predators that are other animals - killer whales, and sharks. 

They are often and most likely found in extremely large colonies, consisting of numerous amounts of sea lions. For their protection, they will stay very close together both on land, and even in the water.
The big colonies though also have many sub groups, sometimes sea lions will move from one sub group to another. (yay, vacation time! at least they socialize) 

Sea Lions are considered to be very intelligent animals, which is a fact I definitely have to agree with upon seeing them preform at the MOTE Aquarium! 

Though, considering their size, Sea Lions can be very dangerous animals to be around, as they can become rather aggressive (especially the males).

Sea lions can even dive up to 600 feet for food in the water! They can even remain under the water for up to forty minutes before they need to come back up for air.

And if you thought you were a good swimmer, think again! These bad boys can swim up to 25 miles per hour! But they generally move about 10 miles per hour, unless they feel threatened. And although they appear lazy, they simply enjoy relaxing and basking in the sun, just like me! 

The average life span of this majestic lion is a good 20 years, but they might even see 30 years if they are raised in captivity! Pretty cool, huh? Surprisingly enough, these mammals aren't immune to all health problems.
They can often suffer from pneumonia, epilepsy, and various types of cancer... how sad. :( But research shows that the pups are immune to such problems as long as they are fed milk from their mothers. 

And remember to throw away your trash in the right place, because plastic is actually a huge threat to sea lions. Something that may seem safe to you, such as plastic rings from a six pack of soda, can be deadly for them. They will swallow the plastic, and then will have problems internally with the digestion process! Let's try and not let that happen to these awesome fellas', alright?
Also, forgot to mention - their diets consist of seafood - salmon and herring being their favorite!

How awesome, you are now super informed about these awesome animals, and have more knowledge than you did before reading this, cool!

Don't Forget To Be Awesome, my fellow animal lovers! Remember to be nice to the earth <3