Wildlife Promise » sea lions

Photo of the Day: Snoozing Sea Lions

Rachel Stemen — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:54:37 +0000

Sea lion and pup sleeping on rocks of Galapagos Islands. Photo by Robert Miller.

This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 43rd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

California sea lion strandings alarm scientists

Beth Pratt — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:11:16 +0000

Since January 2013, more than 1,100 California sea lion pups have beached themselves along the coast. Photo:National Marine Mammal Foundation

California sea lions, a regular fixture alongside many areas of the Golden State’s 1,100 mile coastline, are known for their playful dog-like antics and social manner. Tourists from all over the globe visit Fisherman’s Wharf, Point Lobos, the Channel Islands and other gathering areas to catch a glimpse of these animals, once referred to as “dog-headed mermaids.”

Since their listing under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the California sea lion population has increased to over 200,000 animals and is thought to be within its “optimum population limits.” Yet the animal still faces threats, such as death from harmful algal blooms and human caused injury. Recently another challenge has surfaced for the sea lion that has scientists both puzzled and alarmed: an unprecedented number of strandings.

The strandings have occurred at a rate three times higher than the historic average and prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to take the extraordinary step of declaring an Unusual Mortality Event for California Sea Lions since the beginning of the year.

“Unfortunately, we expected NOAA’s announcement and we hope it brings even more attention to this critical situation. Peak stranding season hasn’t even arrived yet and it appears the number of pups that will show up on San Diego’s beaches will go up even more in the next two months,” said NMMF Executive Director Dr. Cynthia Smith

The unprecedented number of sea lion pub stranding has pushed many rescue centers to capacity. Photo: National Marine Mammal Foundation

Since the beginning in January 2013, dramatically-elevated strandings of California sea lion pups have been observed in Southern California (Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties). NOAA reported that strandings are increasing in San Diego County. To date, strandings have totaled 1,100 sea lion pups in Southern California and 83 in the rest of the state.

National Marine Mammal Foundation researcher Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson is the Chair of the Working Group for Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events. “We’re working quickly to respond to this crisis. The NMMF’s focus is to help save the lives of these malnourished sea lions and at the same time help our colleagues determine what’s causing this alarming increase in stranded pups,” said Dr. Venn-Watson.

What is causing the unprecedented number of strandings? In a recent briefing, Sarah Wilkin, NOAA Fisheries Southwest Regional Stranding Coordinator, said the origin is still unknown, but the agency is working with a number of hypothesis, including changing environmental conditions that limit prey availability, infectious disease, biotoxins, and pollution. NOAA is assembling a multi-disciplinary investigation team to assess the causes and determine how to address.

California sea lions, once referred to as “dog-mermaids” are a regular fixture on the Golden State’s coastline. Photo: Beth Pratt

In the meantime, the government agencies have partnered with a number of wildlife rescue and rehabilitation groups to assist with the strandings, but most are at capacity and the agency has also established a triage system to monitor pups on the beach, and transfer the most serious cases in need of medical care.

And are these sea lion strandings linked to the other unusual marine mammal activity that California has been experiencing over the last couple of years? Regular readers of my blog know I have been tracking these occurrences, and I was recently interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor on the phenomena. At this point, it’s too early to tell and more research is needed, but Wilkin replied in an interview that “It may be indicating that the ecosystem is changing slightly and the animals are responding to those changes.”

For ongoing updates and more information from NOAA on the sea lion strandings, visit NOAA’s briefing site.

In more cheerful California sea lion news, scientists at the University of California Santa Cruz have trained the sea lion Ronan to bust some moves and dance to the beat of the Backstreet Boys and Earth, Wind and Fire. This is significant because the concept of rhythm was previously thought to be a human trait. Check out the fun video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photo of the Day: As curious as a California Sea Lion

Rachel Stemen — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:55:17 +0000

Photo by Dennis Vandermeersch. 2009 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

A California sea lion checks out Dennis Vandermeersch while he was on a dive in the Sea of Cortez near La Paz, Mexico. Dennis captured a series of photos of these underwater acrobats, including one that he describes as doing “a little dance”.

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Photo of the Day: Underwater Forest

Rachel Stemen — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:39:42 +0000

A small group of California sea lions glide through a kelp forest, looking for food off the coast of Santa Cruz Island, California. Photo by Antonio Busiello.

This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

15 Adorable Wildlife Puppies for National Puppy Day

Kristin Johnson — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:32:06 +0000

Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you that two of my favorite things are: 1) wildlife and 2) puppies. When I’m not at work helping protect the first, I can most often be found hanging out with my rescue puppy, Allister. So when I happened across the fact that March 23rd is National Puppy Day – smack dab in the middle of National Wildlife Week – I knew this blog needed to happen.

Here is my celebration of two great things about this world, wildlife and puppies, combined into one. Commence: Wildlife puppies!

Note: All of the below images were donated by photographers who entered the National Wildlife Photo Contest, which is currently open for people to enter, vote for and share photos.

Wolf Pup

Antarctic Fur Seal Pup

And another one…

Grey Fox Pup

>> Adopt your own wildlife puppy and help National Wildlife Federation make a difference for wildlife

African Wild Dog Puppies

Harbor Seal Pup

And one more…

Red Fox Pup

Meerkat Pups

Coyote Pup

Sea Lion Pups

Two more sea lion pups, trying to get a sea turtle to play.

Bat Pup

Sea Otter Pup

Pupfish

Ways to Celebrate National Puppy Day

The unofficial holiday National Puppy Day was designed to encourage the adoption of orphaned puppies and dogs in shelters across the country, so this Friday…

Consider making your next pet one you rescue from a shelter. Search Petfinder for dogs of all ages.
Not able to make room for a new hound in your home? Donate money, supplies or time to a local shelter.
Want to help National Wildlife Federation protect wildlife puppies? Symbolically adopt a wild animal baby.

And lastly, in repayment for some amazing photo research help from my coworker (and because I couldn’t resist)…