Zalophus California Sea Lion Research Paper

The leopard seal is one of six species of seals in the Antarctic. They can get up to 1230 pounds and fall anywhere between eight and twelve feet long. These large muscular animals have dark grey backs, and spots scattered among their light grey stomachs and throat. They get their name, “leopard seal”, from their impressively long sharp carnivore like teeth. Although their front teeth are sharp, their back teeth lock together to help them catch krill. Their appetite mainly consists of penguins, fish, squid, and krill, though they will prey on other seals. Although the leopard seal is considered the most ferocious seal in Antarctica, they will play with the penguins in a friendly manner. When they are not playing with the penguin they will grab

Lions live in groups called prides, the average adult male weighs around 400 to 500 pounds and the females 200 to 300 pounds. Irony is that in the prides the females do the majority of the hunting and provide for the group, while the males stay in their territory and provide protection and security. Lions are the only social cats, which means they look after each other unlike tigers, cheetahs etcetera which primarily live and hunt alone. Lions are mostly carnivorous animals. However like all living things, they need water but between them and a source of fresh water stands a herd of two ton wild beasts, the

Length and Weight: The average length of a blue whale is 75 - 80 feet (23 - 24 meters) and these long marine mammals can weigh up to 200,000 pounds (90,000 kg). Whales in the southern hemisphere are generally larger than those in the northern hemisphere. One whale captured in the southern hemisphere measured 110 feet (33 meters) in length. Females are usually larger than males of the same age. Fins: A small triangular-shaped dorsal fin is located on the blue whale's back. This fin measures only one foot in height. The shape and size of the dorsal fin can be very different for each whale. The whale's flippers are short and the tail is broad and triangular in shape. During the summer feeding period, a blue whale eats about 40 million krill each day, amounting to about 3,600 kg (7,900 pounds). During the other 8 months of the year, it lives of stored fat not eating anything.The blue whale feeds by using its long flexible throat grooves to expand its throat and draws in water laden with the prey, then forces the water out through its baleen plates. The whale then swallows after the baleen plates filter out the prey organisms (most likely

Bull kelps have strands about 30 meters long with floats to help keep the algae close to the surface within reach of the sunlight. Because California has a consideration amount of sunlight, the giant kelp can be found along the coastal regions. Because of this, California sea otters gather in the kelp forest and snooze during spring. To prevent themselves from being drift away by tides and currents, they anchor themselves by scraps of kelp around their body. In some aspects, sea otters are guardians of the region. Several creatures that shelter in the kelp have to venture in the opening to feed, like the bat ray. They feed in the sandy floor of the open sea, they use jet of water to blown the sand away and expose invertebrates. They will either eat or be

A California Sea Lion is a large mammal Connected to the pinniped family which includes Seals and Walruses. A male California Sea Lion can measure eight feet long and reach a weight of 1000 pounds or more while the female Sea Lions weigh up to 250 pounds.

California Sea Lions are found off the west coast primarily in the Channel Islands off the California coast. Males can reach up to 850 pounds,

Most people would not appreciate a stranger walking into their home unannounced, taking their food, and making themselves at home. That is exactly what lionfish are doing along the Florida coastline. Lionfish are an invasive species that need to be contained. The reefs that they consistently invade off of the coast of the Florida are not the lionfish's natural habitat. This invasive species takes shelter and resources out of the reef that other species need to survive, and they destroy the environment around them. Humans have complicated the balance of the ecosystem by introducing lionfish, and now they need to help rectify the situation.

This creature is known as a harbor seal and was found on October 23rd, 1805 near the Columbia river, 100 miles away from the Pacific Ocean. and found in fresh water. They are also known to be found on the coast of California, they are often found laying on rocks on sandy beaches.

They are big eaters and usually end up eating all their prey in an area. Soon Lionfish are about all thats left. After they have killed most of the fish they take over the area. Since the water is getting warmer and warmer, they will be able to spread and do this to even more ocean

Harbor seal Harbor seal is pretty small when compared to other seal species. Harbor seals usually come in dark brown, tan and different shades of grey. They mainly eat fish and shellfish. The harbor seal fits in as a secondary consumer, meaning it is a carnivore and eats primary consumers such as fish.

There are several different factors that make the lionfish such a successful invader of the northwest Atlantic but a notable one is the fact that they are habitat generalists and can live in a large variety of oceanic conditions. Along with being habitat and ecosystem generalists they are also generalists in terms of the food that they eat. Along with being food generalists they also have a unique hunting technique where they “vacuum up” their

Steller sea lions have few predators. Their main predators are killer whales, Great white sharks, Pacific sleeper sharks, and humans. Steller sea lions defend themselves by outswimming their predators. They can also sense when predators are nearby and their biggest defense is to get onto land. Their preys are the wide range of animals that they feed on. They track their behavior by diving deep as the prey moves deeper, and they gather in groups in locations that have seasonal runs of fish.

One hypothesis proposes that the reason Steller sea lions have been declining is because of low prey abundance. Animals should use their energy efficiently when they forage to maximize the net amount of energy gained in relation to the amount time and energy that is spent, but it is believed that the reason Steller sea lions are disappearing in such big numbers is because when prey abundance is lower, that Stellar sea lions are less efficient predators (Charnov, 1976). In a recent study conducted on the effect of prey abundance on foraging efficiency, it was found that the less prey that Stellar sea lions had available, the less efficient they were in foraging (Goundie et al., 2015). In the experiment, the researchers took 4 adult Stellar sea lions and had them dive up and down a tube while recording their oxygen consumption, and dive duration. The sea lions dove between the surface of the water and depths of 10 m, and 40 m, and the reason for this was to simulate diving depths of Steller sea lions in the wild (Merrick and Loughlin, 1997). While the sea lions were diving, researchers fed them pieces of fish through two different tubes that were placed away from each other in order to simulate real foraging movements and prey densities. The researchers fed the seals 12 pieces of fish in the

Pinnipeds are living lives of misery as well. ‘Pinniped’ is another word for ‘fin-footed mammal’. Walruses, seals, and seal lions are all pinnipeds. Walruses have shown signs of psychological issues, and were seen regurgitating food. Not only that, but walruses have that have been kept at SeaWorld tend to suffer from blindness at a young age, and dying years prior to their natural life expectancy. These things are rarely, and almost never documented in the wild. Seals and sea lions are given no shade in their enclosures to protect them from the sun, which can result in stress, sunburn, and eye damage.

Majestic, noble, and brave, this famous iconic wild animal on the planet has captivated the people since the beginning of time. They are most feared by other animals thus, known as the king of the jungle – no other than the lions. Member of the genus Panthera, the lion is one of the big cats in the Felidae family. A lion’s head and body size average about 4.5 to 6.5 feet and tail of about 26 to 40 inches in length. A lion also weighs about 265 up to 420 pounds and a size relative to a 6-foot human. These mammals are also carnivores. Lions have always seen hunting in groups called pride. While lions generally avoid a full-grown elephant, lions still prefer their preys large like the zebras, buffaloes, and giraffes. Poised as the top animal in the ecological pyramid, lions have strong physical qualities, fascinating reputation, and an unfortunate decreasing number of population.