Galapagos Sealion

Can you spot the second sealion?

I think the sealion is one of the best animals I have seen so far on my trip.  I have had so many amazing experiences with sealions in the Galapagos, but unfortunately it has now come to an end and we have moved on. 

Some of the sealions are very cute, like this one

And this one

The baby sealions stay with their mums for up to two years. 

When the sealions grow up, some of them are very big and scary, and they don't want to play.  There is normally one male bull sealion in charge of 20-30 sealions.  We were told that he is so busy protecting the other sealions that he doesn't have time to eat properly and after a few months can get weak.  This is when other males might fight with him for his position.  

We watched a male patrol the beach for the three days that we were at La Loberia, in San Cristobal, swimming just by the shore from side to side, barking very loudly to show he is the boss. He would sometimes swim very near to us if he thought we were getting too close to the other sealions in the water.  One time he bumped into Daddy's leg in the water.  Daddy didn't go near him again!

facts
The Galapagos sealion is related to the Californian sealion.  The Californian sealions are bigger.  The Galapagos male bull sealions can reach up to about 500lbs by the time they are seven years old. 

The Galapagos sealions don’t live as long as the Californian sealions because they have to put there bodies under more stress to get their food.  They go up to 6 miles out, and dive down to 300 metres deep, because the fish they like go much deeper here.   The Galapagos sealions live to around 15 to 20, whereas the Californian sealions can live up to 35.
They like to eat sardines and can eat up to 15kg of fish per day.  

There are two main differences between sealions and seals.  They are:
1) Sealions have little ears that stick out and seals don’t, and 2) Sealions use their front flippers and their back flippers and bottoms to move along, whereas seals move along only with their front flippers.

By Louis