#otariidae

[sealsdaily]

Today's Sea Lion Is: Making Contact With An Unknown Beast

[snototter]

A Galapagos sea lion (Zalophus wollebaeki) sleeping in Galapagos, Ecuador

by Tim Matthews

[sillyseals77]

lots of seals (and sea lions)

[morgansram]

Leaping California Sea Lion

[saritawolf]

California Sea Lion pup (Zalophus californianus) - (c) SaritaWolf - please do not repost

[drhoz]

The Great ACT-NSW-NZ Trip, 2023-2024 - Shag Point

Late Cretaceous mudstones and sandstones, and bituminous coal, now eroded into headlands, a convinient natural boat harbour, and multiple unmarked mineshafts which are not convinient at all.

Māori extensively settled the area in the 15th Century, and one important tradition holds that a double-hulled trading canoe ran into a storm off the coast here, with the cargo washed ashore and petrified into the famous Matakaea boulders, and less symmetrical boulders around the point and beachs here. They're mudstone concretions, many of them formed around fossils, and in one case around a eight-meter long elasmosaur.

The point is also noteworthy for plant species more normally found in alpine and subalpine grasslands.

Shag Point, Aotearoa New Zealand

[thepinnipedparade]

South American fur seal (L) – The South American fur seal ranges from Peru to southern Brazil, with most of the population living in Uruguay and the Falkland Islands. Their diet varies greatly depending on where they live, but unlike most pinnipeds they prefer to hunt in groups. Unfortunately they like to live in many of the same areas as the South American sea lion. Male South American sea lions will steal fur seal pups and kill them if they can. Like the Galapagos fur seal, South American fur seals nurse their pups for a comparatively long time.

Subantarctic fur seal (R) – Their range is a long band across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans just above the Antarctic Circle (hence "Subantarctic"), though some far-travelers have settled in Tasmania. Both males and females have gray fur on their backs and orange/cream fur on their undersides. Because their preferred fish migrates close to the surface, they have one of the shallowest dive depths of any pinniped.

[sealsdaily]

tghis is what its all about.

he has too much power

[wonder-rooms]

Sea Lion, Our Living World, Vol. I (1885) - Rev. J.G. Wood

*Digitally restored by Molly Wilders, from scans uploaded to Biodiversity Heritage Library

[haveyouseenthisanimal-irl]

[sealsdaily]

Today's Fur Seal Is: Woolly Caterpillar

[snototter]

An Australasian fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri) and suckling pup on Karta Pintingga, Australia

by Charles Sharp

[sillyseals77]

“what’s the first letter of the alphabet?”

the well-educated steller sea lion pup:

via

[sealtrick]

Now Im curious what seals are the other panic guys???

(note when i say seal for seal assignments i am referring to seals as in clade pinniped, including true seals, sea lions, fur seals, and walruses)

sooooo i think brendon is a california sea lion because he really just feels like he needs external ear flaps. spencer is a northern fur seal. jon feels very south american fur seal. very otariidae band and i don’t know why

[saritawolf]

California Sea Lion (female) (Zalophus californianus) - (c) SaritaWolf - please do not repost

[drhoz]

#2422 - Arctocephalus forsteri - Long-nosed Fur Seal

Surprise find while I was looking around the base of Puritutu Rock for interesting limpets.

AKA kekeno, Australasian fur seal, South Australian fur seal, New Zealand fur seal, and Antipodean fur seal. Arctocephalus means "bear head" and the family name Otariidae comes from the Greek otarion meaning "little ear".

Found in Australian coastal waters and offshore islands of southern Australia, from the south-west of Western Australia to just east of Kangaroo Island in South Australia, and around southern Tasmania, New Zealand's South and Stewart Islands, and the nearer subantarctic islands. Happily, small populations are now found in Bass Strait and coastal waters of Victoria and New South Wales as far as the mid-north coast, and around the North Island, but these newer colonies are the result of recovery from their near extinction at the hands of humans.

Females can dive for about 9 minutes and to a depth of about 312 metres. Males can dive for about 15 minutes to a depth of about 380 metres. Their diet includes cephalopods, fish, and birds, including penguins at the southern end of their range. Known predators are killer whales, sharks, male New Zealand sea lions, and until recently humans. Unfortunately many still die in fishing nets, or are illegally killed by fishermen, and pups are very vulnerable to disturbance of the rookeries.

Puritutu Rock, New Plymouth, New Zealand