The South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens, is a mammal, not a fish. It has lungs and cannot breathe underwater. Very at ease in water, it holds its breath as it dives.
Profile
Least Concern (LC)
Lifestyle
A male sea lion has a harem of around 9 females. The births, which are synchronised within the group, coincide with a new breeding season. While the males are fighting over territory and females, it is not uncommon for newborn pups to be crushed under the weight of an agitated adult. During the mating season, they guard their harem jealously, restricting the females to one territory along the shore.
Distinctive features
The male has a magnificent mane and is much larger than the female. He weighs around 300 kg whereas the female weighs around 3 times less. The sea lion is naturally insulated against the cold, whether it is diving in the depths of the ocean or sprawling on the coastline rocks battered by the icy winds of Patagonia. A layer of blubber under its skin serves as insulation while its thick fur, coupled with a waterproof undercoat thanks to oily secretions, keeps its skin really dry… even in the water.
Anecdote
It’s difficult for a mother to find her pup in a noisy, lively colony of a few thousand sea lions. Yet she has to regularly leave it to go and catch fish in the sea. When she returns, she barks and waits for her pup to reply so that she knows where it is.
South American sea lions feeding
THE SEA LION COLONY
GET TO KNOW THE SEA LION COLONY
The colony of sea lions at the Paris Zoological Park is made up of seven individuals belonging to two species. Nora, Ela, Portos, Aramis and little Naya, born in July 2020, are maned sea lions; Quito and Jaci are two southern fur seals. The latter joined the former in February 2019 and the group lives together peacefully.
In the wild, maned and southern fur seals live side by side because they share the same territory - the coasts of Peru, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay - and have a very similar fish-eating diet. The Parc Zoologique de Paris is the only zoo to have both species of sea lion in the same tank.
