Navy Trains Sea Lions to Fight Terrorism

The U.S. Navy has been using dolphins and sea lions for decades as equipment retrievers and underwater sentries. Now, they are taking it a step farther in training sea lions to sweep for mines and trap enemy divers. It is all part of the U.S. Navy's Marine Mammal Program, which is based out of San Diego. However, these animals have been deployed into combat zones as far away as Vietnam and Iran. Sea lions are currently being trained to capture and detain divers that could be enemy combatants. They do so by attaching a special clamp to the divers legs, which is attached to a line. Once captured, people at the surface can reel in the diver. Additinonally, their training in underwater retrieval has made them perfectly suited for sweeping the ocean for underwater mines. As of now, there are 28 sea lions in the program, but soon a new team of sea lions will defend the Kitsap-Bangor base in Washington state.

A sea lion of the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program attaching a recovery line to a piece of test equipment.

Additionally, a new sea lion unit is being trained in San Francisco. It takes about 4 years to train these sea lions and the program spends 20 million dollars a year.

There has been ongoing controversy over the NMMP's treatment of these animals, and the debate will rage on over the ethics of using animals in the military. In any event, such capabilities of these sea lions shows just how far their cognition goes. They are intelligent animals, able to be conditioned into very complex behaviors. Whether it is ethical or not, these sea lions as well as many other marine mammals have proved useful to our Navy.

 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/05/navytrained-sea-lions-dolphins-participate-in-antiterrorism-training-exercises.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N1naUgOSKQ

Sea Lions in San Fran and La Jolla

Here are a few pictures I took of the sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco.

Sea lion itching its bottom... HA!

La Jolla Sea Lions

These are two pictures I took from a few weeks back in La Jolla where the Sea Lions tend to gather in groups. There were only a few of them out but I was able to take a picture before then went back into the water. The sea lions seems fairly comfortable around humans because this is such a popular tourist spot and there are more often than not several people along the shore observing and taking pictures.

Conservation Status

                                                  Injured Sea Lion being returned to Sea


In the past sea lions were hunted for their meal, oil, and fur. In the 18th and 19th century sea lion numbers were low because they were extensively killed for commercial purposes. Although numbers were low in the the past protections in the 20th century has allowed them to regain a somewhat healthy sustaining population. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) puts sea lions on the red list and states that many Otariids are currently vulnerable but at a low-risk level. The amount of sea lions currently is within its optimal sustainable population limits. All marine mammals including sea lions and seals are protected under the ked congress to allow federal authorities to relocate California sea lions that are preying on endangered fiMarine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which was passed in 1972 by the United States to protect these animals from hunting and harassment. Sea lions are vulnerable to incidental catch, being tangled in commercial fishing gear, and pollutants and toxins in the water. Large amounts of agricultural runoff and waste from humans enter the water and may have effects on the sea lions immune system and overall health. Many commercial fishermen see sea lions as a nuisance because they damage fishing gear and because of this fisherman will often shoot them upon seeing them. Steller sea lions are among the most endangered Otariids with a 70 percent population decrease since the 1970's, they are now considered an endangered species. 


The IUCN states that the current population of california sea lions is around 350,000. Pictured below is a map from the Red List that shows where california sea lions currently reside. 

http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/california-sea-lion/conservation.htm
http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/species/seals/index.html
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/pinnipeds/californiasealion.htm
http://.org/habitats-species/sea-lions-fur-seals/save-the-sea-lions/
mundoazul
http://www.iucnredlist.org/

Seal or Sea Lion?

Over the span of history people have often found themselves confused by the question: Seal or Sea Lion?

These two aquatic mammals are very similar in physical appearance as well as disposition, yet they have a number of distinct differences that can easily be spotted.

Here are the 3 most visible physical distinctions that can be made between seals and sea lions:

1.  Sea lions have ear flaps, while seals have ear holes.

     
     Sea Lion Ear Flaps                                                                                Seal Ear Holes

2. Sea lions have long hairless foreflippers and seals have short, hairy foreflippers with claws.

   
  Sea Lion Foreflipper                                                                               Seal Foreflipper

3. Sea lions have long smooth whiskers or vibrissae, while seals whiskers are are crimped and beaded.











         Sea Lion Whiskers                                                                             Seal Whiskers

These three characteristics can be easily spotted and are consistent for all types of seals and sea lions.

It is now up to you to answer the question: Seal or Sea Lion?



Work Cited:

Multiple Authors. (2008). Sea lion versus seal. Retrieved from   
                  http://www.dolphinencounters.com/education-sealionvsseal.php

Five Facts About Sea Lions You Didnt Know

Here are Five Facts that I bet most of you did not know about sea lions!

1.  Most sea lions live an extremely aggressive and active lifestyle, however there is faction of the sea lion population that has an almost playful existence.  Juvenile and nonbreeding sea lions spend their days surfing waves and playing tag, true beach bums.

2.  Sea lions often float within a close proximity to one another in large groups of 5-10.  This behavior is called rafting.

3.  Male sea lions have territories that they need to protect.  If one male observes another in their territory, each exhibit a number of behaviors.  These behaviors consist of barking, chest bumping, shoving, and biting.  These encounters rarely result in death, however the loser is clearly established and new territories usually result.

4.  Sea lions will sometimes remove only one flipper from the water in order to maintain a more comfortable body temperature.  It may seem as though they are waving at you, however they are really just trying to cool down and stay comfortable.

5.  Sea lion species live within the same territory as one another and even, in certain situations, interact with each other.  For example, California sea lions have been reported to live amongst elephant seals, harbor seals, and Stella sea lions. 

Sources:

Multiple Authors. California sea lion eating habits. Retrieved from http://www.seaworld.org/animal- 

           info/info-books/california-sea-lion/diet.htm

Scholarly Article - Self-Control in Sea Lions

In 2005, a study was conducted to analyze self-control in sea lions and compare their results to that of primates. Four sea lions were tested on a reverse-reward contingency task. Each was presented with a choice between two amounts of food (fish), one which was larger than the other. They then received the opposite amount from the one they chose. Every sea lion chose the larger amount on the first trial, but three of the four were able to learn to choose the smaller amount with consistency.

A sea lion stands before the testing apparatus, anxiously awaiting his dinner.

Although primates are amoung the most social of animals, their self-control measured lower in tests than did that of sea lions

Similar studies have been conducted on sevearl species of primates, including, Japanes macaques, squirrel monkeys, lemurs, chimpanzees, tamarins and orangutans, and this study sought to examine self-control in a non-primate species. The study states, "Marine mammals are of special interest because their brain is broadly comparable to that of primates (Jerison 1973) and their learning skills have often been exploited in animal shows and military experiments." In addition, few cognitive studies have ever been conducted on sea lions, or similar marine species. It turns out that the sea lions were able to learn to choose the lesser amount more quickly than any primate, performing most similarly to the orangutans, which performed the best out of the primates. It is believed that primate self-control is realated to their social structure and hierachy, in which lower ranking individuals may have to wait their turn. Sea lions have a harem type of social organization, but theyhunt alone during the day and thus do not have to compete directly with conspecifics for fish; therefore they do not need to be impulsive. This could explain their stellar performance in self-control.

Eight Enticing Eating Habits of California Sea Lions

California sea lions are an intriguing and well-known aquatic animal that most individuals have been exposed to.

However, here we reveal eight eating habits of California sea lions that most individuals wouldn't expect:

1.  California sea lions get all of their food from the sea!

Rather than obtaining food when roaming the shores, California sea lions choose from over 50 species of fish to feed on, including hake, anchovy, and herring.

2.  Sea Lions eat about 5% to 8% of their body weight each day, which for most sea lion is over 15 pounds of food!

3.  Sea lions use their sensitive whiskers called vibrissae to explore and locate food.

4.  Sea lions do not chew their food at all.  They either tear it into chunks or just swallow it whole!

5.  Sea lions do not drink water as a source of hydration.  Instead they obtain all the water they need from their food consumption!

6.   Male sea lions will fast for weeks at a time!

During breeding season, males are required to maintain a territory in which they can attract a mate.  If they were to leave their territory and try to get food, it would allow another sea lion to potentially take their territory and their mate.

7. Sea lions feed from the top of the ocean to depths of 80 feet!

8.  Sea lions have been found to swallow stones over the span of their lives.  During the autopsy of one particularly large sea lion, 60 pounds worth of stones were found in its stomach.  Scientists have discovered no evolutionary or practical reasons to describe this behavior.

Sources:


Multiple Authors. California sea lion eating habits. Retrieved from http://www.seaworld.org/animal- 
           info/info-books/california-sea-lion/diet.htm