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09/26/14 - Seal Point Sea Lions

Kangaroo Island has a lot more animals than just kangaroos. Today we went to Seal Point to see the sea lions. These look a lot like seals, but seals tend to wriggle along the ground rather awkwardly. Sea lions are more like quadrupeds, actually using some component of their tails for locomotion, rather than just dragging behind.

The reserve has slowly accustomed the sea lions to people. If we don't hassle them, they don't mind us. This means we can wander around in clusters and get a close look at these wonderful sea mammals. We saw females nursing and males engaging in pushing matches, so we felt right at home.

It doesn't really show up in the photos, but male sea lions have a pale area around their necks and on their heads that look a bit like lions' manes, hence the name sea lion. There were other land mammals waiting for their turn visiting theses sea mammals, or we would have spent the day on the beach with them.


The view from our window

The walk down to the beach

Look who's here.

Welcome to the beach.

Just resting

Some of the gang

Two males tussling - The guy on the left was a real trouble maker.

A nursing mother and baby

More sea lions

We almost took this guy home with us. Unlike seals, sea lions don't smell like fish.

The vegetation behind the beach

Keywords: australia