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Every home is different
Snowy Plovers in SF Ocean Beach Surf
2 Irish Coffees Please
El Cid Statue at Legion of Honor, SFSeal or sea lion ?
I never thought about the differences between a seal and a sea-lion until I went to Pier 39. The Marine Mammal Center displays some leaflets that you can pick up for information. And I thought I would share my new knowledge with you, or at least those among you who like animals :-)
First of all, when you visit a zoo or an aquarium, the trained “seals” that you see are actually sea lions. Adult male have a sort of bump called “sagittal crest” on their head. Female and young male are light brown, they get dark brown as they grow older.
Some features that differentiate seals from sea-lions :
- ear flaps : all sea lions have ear flaps, whereas seals don’t
- flippers and claws : sea lions have long front flippers without claws, seals have short front flippers with claws
- way of moving : sea lions walk on land whereas seals crawl
Now, why are they so abundant around Pier 39? Well, simply because it is a comfortable place to sleep, because they find enough fish to feed on and because they are safe from their predators (mainly the great white shark and the killer whale).
And one funny fact for all movie fans… the war screams of the Orcs in the “Lord of the Ring” movie was a record of sounds made by young elephant seals !
Freaky :-)
