“Welcome to 2012…”
“…see you underwater!”
Posts Tagged Australian Sea Lion
Happy New Year!
“Welcome to 2012…”
“…see you underwater!”
Fighting Sea Lions
Here’s another photo that I like from my recent trip to Western Australia, a picture of two Australian sea lions fighting:
Two male sea lions having a friendly discussion
The animal on the left is a juvenile, and the one on the right is a mature bull. Despite appearances, they’re not having a serious conflict. They’re play-fighting, sort of like the way dogs tussle with one another sometimes.
I’m not 100% certain, but I assume that this type of behaviour is to establish social status, as is common among many other animals.
In this case, the older individual sauntered up to the little one, greeted it, then bullied it a bit. Much to his credit, the little one stood his ground, though he did make a few strategic retreats during the encounter.
As you can see from the image, sea lions kick up a lot of sand and other stuff when they wrestle. This, plus the fact that the sea lions swim extra super-fast when they’re playing around, makes it relatively difficult to get clear photographs of such behaviour.
Sea Lion Silhouette
Sea lions are sort of awkward and ungainly on land, especially mature individuals, because they’re large, heavy and aren’t really built for taking strolls on the beach.
Underwater however, it’s an entirely different story. Even big bulky boys like the one in this silhouette shot are sleek and swift, capable of executing a pinpoint turn in the blink of an eye.
Sea lion silhouette
Sayonara Sea Lions
Our final day with the sea lions was less eventful than the previous few, but a lot of fun nonetheless.
Sea lion sniffing its surroundings like a puppy
It’s been a terrific trip, and I have a lot that I’d like to share, but I’m still preoccupied with what’s going on in Japan.
Even as I’m writing this, I’m watching footage on TV of a few people who were just rescued from the freezing conditions in northeast Japan, followed by a discussion of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant. It’s still difficult to fathom the scale of devastation, suffering and chaos.
Given the general uncertainty in Japan and reports from friends living near me that there’s still very little food or fuel available, I won’t be heading back to Japan until it makes sense to do so. For the time being, I’ll be even more homeless and disoriented than usual.
Two of a Different Kind
Today was another action-packed day, with about four hours of fun in the water with our sea lion friends. Among the day’s highlights, there was one particular pinniped with a penchant for kissing everyone:
Young sea lion coming in for a kiss
We also had a nice swim with a New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri), which was unusual. There aren’t too many of them in the area, and they tend to be shy. But the one we swam with wasn’t terribly standoff-ish. With a little patience, we were able to get close enough to get a good look.
New Zealand fur seal hanging upside-down, with flippers sticking out of the water
The fur seal seemed to enjoy floating at the water’s surface with its flippers sticking out in the air. Perhaps this cute position is for thermal regulation, or maybe it’s just for fun. In any event, the encounter was a terrific bonus.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that our good luck with weather, water and animals so far will hold through tomorrow, which is our final day on the water.
Pinniped Pair
Here’s a photo from today, a pair of sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) taking a break, no doubt exhausted from the effort of keeping us entertained:
A pair of sea lions crashed out on a bed of seagrass
The one on top is a juvenile we’ve seen every day this week. It’s easily recognisable by the scars on its head. The bigger one plunked down on the bottom is an older male.
More Whiskers
After a bit of a slow start in the early morning, we had another great day with our pinniped friends today. This is one of the juveniles we played with, showing off his whiskers, just like in the photo I posted yesterday.
Chilling out in the surf with a juvenile sea lion
I want to write more about the fun we had, but I’m totally preoccupied by the devolving disaster in Japan. Radiation levels throughout northeast Japan and the Tokyo area have risen dramatically in recent hours, and there’s the potential for the situation to get much worse.
People who want to flee northeast Japan can’t, because there’s not enough fuel for everyone’s cars, so many people are stuck.
And with reports of radiation levels already at 10-40x normal right now in Tokyo and surrounding suburbs…Japan’s largest population center is at risk.
I don’t even know if it’s safe to go back after wrapping up here.
Whiskers
Today was my first day in the water with Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea). Given what’s going on in Japan right now, I’ve been struggling with whether to post photos or not.
On the one hand, it’s difficult not to be preoccupied and worried about the chaos and confusion back at home.
On the other hand, no matter how bad things get, life has to go on, and there’s nothing to be gained by being depressed.
I’m still not quite sure what the right thing to do is, but my gut instinct is to focus on the task at hand. When I get back to Japan, I’m sure there will be a lot to deal with, but for the time being, here is a picture I took today, highlighting one of the things that makes these sea lions so cute…whiskers:
Australian sea lions have lots of whiskers
It was a great first day. Somewhat windy and choppy in the morning, which resulted in less-than-ideal visibility, but the sea lions were cooperative, and we all had many opportunities to interact with the playful pinnipeds.
Off to Play with Pinnipeds
After rushing a dozen or more things out the door, pulling an all-nighter in the process, I’m finally on my way to visit Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) again.
It’s been three years since I last had a chance to frolic with my frisky friends in Western Australia, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they’re doing and what’s been happening with their home on Carnac Island.
Self-portrait of me getting a kiss from an Australian sea lion
They are absolutely adorable animals (imagine aquatic labrador retrievers on speed), but they also face a lot of challenges…many of which, not surprisingly, are due to people.
The sea lion colony I’m visiting comprises wild animals, so there’s no guarantee that they’ll be there. Even if they are, there’s no way to be certain whether they’ll deign to spend time with uncoordinated goofs like me trying to keep up with their underwater antics. But they’re generally good natured and playful, so I’ll hopefully have nice pictures to post soon.
Several friends(?) from Singapore and Thailand will be joining the fun, and I’ll also have a chance to hook up with a few people that I’ve only communicated with online so far.
Oh, almost forgot. I need to pack.
Related posts:
Socialising with Sea Lions
Sea Lion Sequel
How I Tricked A Sea Lion
Season’s Greetings
Here’s to a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year!
How I Tricked A Sea Lion
In the process of looking through images for an article, I came across this photograph, which I haven’t posted or published before. It’s an Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) that I met last year.
If you’re concerned about the fish-in-distress, don’t worry…it survived. Here’s the story:
While we were playing together, the sea lion dashed off and zig-zagged around the seabed, occasionally “looking over its shoulder”, so to speak, indicating for me to tag along.
Actually, we had been cavorting in the shallows for the better part of an hour by that point, so the sea lion most likely knew I would do my best to keep up, but it sure seemed like he turned back to check on me a few times.
After zipping around for a bit, he slammed on the brakes, shoved his face into a pile of seaweed, executed a pinpoint 180º turn and presented me with a fish…taking obvious pride in his find. I took a few photos, then indicated as best that I could that I didn’t need a snack, and I wasn’t particularly interested in holding the fish in my mouth.
He must have understood, because he let the fish go and looked at me with a puzzled, somewhat insulted, expression, as if asking: “What is wrong with you?”.
Meanwhile, the poor little fish tried to swim (actually…limp) away, but the sea lion would have none of it. He executed a quick flourish and re-captured it, once again presenting the despondent fish to me.
Once again, I deferred.
Once again, he questioned my sanity…as the fish made a desperate, but hopeless, dash for freedom.
Once again, he snagged the (now thoroughly exhausted) fish and offered it to me.
And yes…once again…I indicated “No, I am absolutely not going to chew on the fish, no matter how pretty it is.” this time, doing a flourish of my own accentuated by a couple of flips in the water…as an attempt to distract the persistent pinniped.
Fortunately for the fish, my little ruse worked. The ever-curious sea lion spit out the (now completely panicked, hyperventilating) fish, and swam over to check out why I was doing flips in the water.
…then, there was a “Wait a second…” moment (picture light bulb over Elmer Fudd’s head), when the sea lion looked at me, looked back at where he’d left the fish, and realised that he’d just been duped.
In far less than the blink of an eye, he was back to where his catch had been, but by then, the little fish had managed to disappear into a morass of seaweed.
The sea lion made a complete mess of the seaweed in an attempt to relocate his prey/ toy, but in the end, he stopped looking and gave me the cold shoulder..until of course, I did a few more flips in the water and he zipped right over to play again.
The point of the story? Somewhere out there is a fish that owes me.
Related posts:
Sea Lion Sequel
Fun with Sea Lions
Me At Work During Leap Year
Socialising with Sea Lions
