South american sea lion

Description

Adult males have a very long neck covered with a thick and dense coat as compared to the rest of the body. They have a short and raised snout, adorned with long whiskers. The females have a slightly thinner and stylised shape, with a thinner neck and no hair. The adult’s coat is light brown. They have small ears. They spend almost all the time in the water in which they are very agile and when they come on to dry land, they walk with the body standing on all four limbs. 

Ethology

When spring arrives they start to meet in mixed groups. The females give birth 2-3 days after their arrival in the colonies after a gestation period of about 1 year and the pups weigh about 15 kg. For a period of about 5 weeks, these animals will not go back into the water and they therefore will not be eating. The males start forming their harems, fighting each other to bring together the highest number of females as possible.

Interesting facts

They were hunted by the natives of South America for thousands of years; from the 16th Century they started being exported to Europe for their meat, oil and skins. Furthermore, in recent centuries the coastal areas have been colonised by humans, displacing their colonies. According to the fishermen, they fed on fish captured in their fishing gears, often causing loss of product and breaking their nets, which is why the fishermen hunted them.