106 – Seal Bay

It is also important to know because where there are several smaller differences, one of the biggest is that a sea lion’s back flippers can rotate forward so they can actually walk on solid ground. Take a look at the skeleton. I will wait.
When inspired to do so, a sea lion can run over the sand at 20km ph. Which is a lot faster than me, so it is wise not to get in between a sea lion and anything.
Seals back flippers angle backward and do not rotate, which makes them faster in the water, but they are belly crawlers on solid ground. I might be able to out maneuver a seal.

Another major difference, that is important but hard to tell from a distance is that seals have fur and sea lions have hair.
In general terms, fur is shorter, denser and sometimes straighter. When it reaches a certain length it sheds, and often there is an undercoat involved. Hair can be coarser, finer and grows longer.
So that means the seal can stay in the water longer because the coat is thicker and keeps the seal warmer. The sea lion will tend to find shelter in the rocks or under bushes along the shore because it does not have the advantage of fur.
Other differences include seals have furry, stubby, front feet, which are thinly webbed flippers with a claw on each small toe. Sea Lions fore flippers are elongated and skin covered.
Seals have small flaps for outer ears, and some lack external ears altogether. Sea lions have obvious flaps.

I think the seal has big ear flaps in the picture. If it is indeed a seal. Hard to tell in these pictures what the flippers are like.

Sea lions are noisy, and apparently seals are quieter. Again, in my experience the jury is out. The Sea Lions did vocalize, but the seals did also. As for volume, the seals were heard over crashing waves and obnoxious wind. I was standing 50 feet on a calm day from the Sea Lions, so yeah, they were loud.

I am not doing well differentiating the two species. Perhaps more pictures.

Seals are less social, and often lead solitary lives, coming together on shore for mating.
Sea lions congregate in herds.

That didn’t help…

Seals prefer being in the water… I give up. I was told Seals were at Admirals Arch, and Sea Lions were at Seals Bay, so just believe the people who know things and accept the pictures on the left are seals, and the pictures on the right are sea lions. Moving on…

85% of Southern Australia’s marine life is found nowhere else in the world.
That is the result of 65 million years of geographical isolation. Also has something to do with the fact Southern Australia is the longest stretch of south-facing coastline in the southern hemisphere, so where else would these animals go?
The Seal Bay sanctuary zone is immediately off shore, extending 16 km wide and 5.5 km out to sea, and is surrounded by the Southern Kangaroo Island Marine Park. Together, the two systems protect important coastal and inshore habitats for species like the endangered Australian sea lion and endangered coastal raptors such as ospreys and white-bellied sea eagles.

Breeding season is on right now for the Sea Lions. So far this year they have had 2 born, and sadly one mortality. Which brings me to the lady stuff.
The females are pregnant for 17.6 months. Yikes.
Most give birth in rocky, sheltered areas to the east and west of the main beach and the bulls (males) try to hold territory around the females who have recently given birth.
Of course the bulls fight for the right to mate, because they are bullish. The reason they are so protective of the females who have given birth is not because they are proud papas, but because the female comes into season 7-10 days after she gives birth.

Yeah, he wants to get laid.

The female’s fertility window is only about 24 hours, so he wants to be there, be ready, and be first in line.

I would not be enthusiastic about men 7-10 days after a 17 month pregnancy. Especially one who only wanted to hang around me to make more babies. I would end his abilities in that department quickly.

So, the female is exhausted, hungry and the man wants sex. Which she agrees to, then she leaves her pup on its own in the sheltered area of the rocks while she goes out to sea to find something to eat.
The pup spends the first 2-3 months of life in the sheltered area before it starts to move around the area more. At 6-8 weeks they are introduced to the water, where they learn to swim, dive and surf. At 6-8 months, mom shows them how to hunt at sea. Note, dad is off doing dad things, whatever those are. The whole survival of the species falls on Mom. Typical.

But we did witness a wonderful moment in the cycle. A mother returned from her time hunting at sea. She called to her pup, who emerged from right behind us in the brush, then made his way toward the shore, where he found his mom and started to feed.

Anyway, there are usually around 200 pups born at Seal Bay each breeding cycle. The Australian Sea Lion is nonmigratory, so they will live their lives in this area. Inbreeding because that is good for the population.
There are only 76 known breeding sites for the Australian Sea Lion, and this location has the 3rd largest wild colony in the world with around 800 Sea Lions.

Incidentally, if you are thinking I fell down on the education job, the scientific name for the Australian Sea Lion is ‘Neophoca Cinerea.’

So, I mentioned earlier that Mom goes out to sea to eat after she gives birth and starts baking another one. Most sea lions spend 3 days at a time at sea hunting and eating with very little rest. They come back to the shores exhausted, and the females have the kids to deal with. Just like the mom in the pictures above. She had not slept in days, was in full food coma mode, and she still had a kid to take care of. So, she called him out, rolled over and slept while he ate.
And Mom was exhausted for good reason. When at sea, they swallow their food whole, or break up bigger prey on the water surface before eating it. They continually dive and surface with their only goal being to eat, and can dive 900-1200 times in the 3 day outing. Usually, they eat up to 1/3rd of their body weight.
How much is that? Females weigh in at 100kg, and 1.73m average length. They travel offshore to hunt 30-70km and dive 80m for a maximum of 4-5 minutes per dive.
Males get up to 400kg and 2-2.5m average length. They go a little further offshore, to the 60-100km range and the deepest dive recorded for a male was 275m. They can dive for 12 minutes as a maximum dive time.

When sea lions dive, they have a transparent third eyelid that protects their eyes while maintaining vision, and a reflective membrane at the back of the eye bounces light back through the eye a second time to help them see when light is scarce.
Their nostrils close automatically and their ears are blocked when the ear canal engorges with blood. Their hearing is actually better in the sea than it is on land.
Their whiskers contain nerve fibers that sense vibrations made by nearby prey, and when they open their mouths to eat their prey, their throat muscles prevent water from entering their windpipes.

But wait, there’s more.
Their body joints flex so the body becomes torpedo-like under pressure and their front flippers provide propulsion where the back flippers serve as the rudder.
Their blubber limits heat loss when blood vessels in the blubber layer constrict. Since they don’t have fur, the blubber is vital to their survival.
Their bodies use oxygen more efficiently in the water by directing blood supply to the vital organs and reducing flow to less vital tissues. Their heart rate falls from 50-60 beats per minute to around 5 beats per minute to conserve oxygen when diving.

So, they have bodies suited perfectly for 2 environments. I barely have a body suited for one environment.

So, what could stop these super animals? Sharks. Or that is their biggest natural predator.
But we pesky humans are doing more damage than any shark population. The Sea Lion has not recovered their population since they were hunted in the 1800s. Add to that the main cause of death is getting caught in fishing nets. Marine debris is another major cause of damage to the population, so… once again, we humans are mucking up the planet for everyone else.
But some of we humans are trying. Throughout this trip I have been to a lot of sanctuaries and no matter what the cause, they all have said the same things. Go on a pollution diet. That’s my take on what they are saying anyway.
We need to take care of our bodies, so we are careful about what we consume. In the same way, we need to take care of our planet, so we need to be careful about what we use. I’m not going to spin anyone from their current comfort into a frenzy of save the planet thinking, because I’m just not that kind of person, and I am fully aware that is improbable in todays society.
Yet the mighty dollar speaks, and sometimes producers listen. You choose to buy things, and those choices impact if a Mom sea lion makes it back to the beach from a hunt. The better chances we give her to get back, the better chance her pup has of surviving, and their population rebounds.
So, cut back on plastics. Don’t dump stuff in the sea. Be a whole planet ambassador instead of a localized junkie.
Take what you will from that. I’m not going on a drum beating rampage to save the sea lions or the whales, or the kangaroos, or whatever. But this trip has exposed me directly to the issues instead of simply the propaganda, so I have a first experience understanding and empathy. I am not a population, but I am a piece, and as a piece, if I do a little better, maybe things will be a little better.
And good grief, if anyone needs support, it is a female sea lion. Only a few days off between pregnancies and having a pup to raise while pregnant… lordy. No thank you.