Australian Sea-Lions
By Calvin Wang
Description
The Australia seal lion(common name) also known as Neophoca cinera(scientific name) is an endangered marine mammal that grows up to two and a half meters in length and can weigh up to 250 kilograms. The Australian sea lion's species class is Mammalia and there are only 10,000 to 12,000 Australian sea lions left. They have a long streamlined body to help them be agile, narrow flippers to help them swim faster to avoid sharks and hind limps to propel the sea lion forward. In the zoo, they still have those features such as the narrow flippers and long streamlined bodies but the adaptations changes when there are put in a enclosure because they only need to use those adaptations to survive from a shark or a different predator. Males are normally dark brown and females are normally grey. Their diet consist on a variety of fish, octopus, squids and sometime they even eat penguins.
Habitat
In the wild, the Australia seal lion lives in sandy beaches, usually in isolate bays, sheltered areas or rocky places near the sea. They live in the southern coast of Australia such as Kangaroo Island. In the zoo, their are normally kept in a glass enclosure filled with either warm or cold water and rocks and sand just like the stuff they have in their natural habitat.
Impact of Human Activity
Small numbers of seal lion have died from fisheries. In the last century or so, these mammals have been hunter for its fur and meat, making the numbers drop significantly. young sea lions have even been recorded to drown in lobster pots. Water pollution could cause the sea lions to die from choking on debris and being tangled in traps. Nowadays, hunting the Australian sea lion is illegal even though the numbers are still dropping.
How can Humans Preserve Australian Sea Lions?
The numbers of Australian sea lions are dropping and some ways to prevent that from happening includes not causing marine pollution such as not littering, stay away from their territory especially when it is breeding season, stay a safe distance from them and stop the fishery. If every human did that, the population will gradually increase. Many zoos right now conservation programs to help them not become extinct. Those zoos aim to find more about these mammals and devise strategies that will ensure their survival.
Bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_sea_lion (visited on 14/11/15)
http://www.penguinisland.com.au/sea-lion-facts.html#.VkbrkNgrKUl (visited on 14/11/15)
http://www.sealion-world.com/australian-sea-lion/ (visited on 14/11/15)