NOAA Fisheries Image Gallery

Pup Warming Up on Mom's Back

Picture by: Unknown Picture taken on: June 29th, 2003

Tags: sea lions steller pup alaska

Steller sea lion pups often warm-up on their mom's back. Steller sea lion breeding is one of nature's great spectacles. When these giants thunder ashore, their favored beaches, called rookeries, disappear under their numbers. Young pups are sometimes crushed by the throng, unheeded by powerful males with only a single purpose in mind. Bulls (males) must establish and hold a beach territory in order to breed. Most do not achieve this until they are nine or ten years of age.

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