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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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