The Falkland Islands and South Atlantic
SOUTH AMERICAN SEA LION Otaria flavescens

SOUTH AMERICAN SEA LION Otaria flavescens

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South American Sea Lions are resident and breeding on the Falkland Islands.
The adult male has a mane extending to the shoulders which makes him look much larger and really does resemble a lion.
 Male’s heads are massive with short, blunt upturned snouts.  There are 10 pairs of teeth in the upper jaw and eight in the lower.  Females are substantially smaller with a much more delicate throat and chest. Males and females are orange brown. Pups are born with a dark brown or black curly natal coat, a little lighter greyish orange ventrally. They moult to chocolate brown.  
Length: Maximums, male 2.8m (over 9 ft.), female 2.2m (over 7 ft.). Pups are about 85cm (33 inches) long when born and 11-15kg (24-33lb).
 Southern Sea Lions feed on octopus, squid, krill and fish but lone rouge male lions are known to take penguins.
Range: Found on the coasts of South America as far as Peru on the Pacific coast and south Brazil on the Atlantic side. The Falklands hosts around five percent of the world's population.
Southern Seal Lions were severely exploited during the 18th and 19th century, reduced levels of hunting continued until the 1960's. Their former levels have never recovered.
The Falkland Islands Marine Mammals Ordinance 1992 protects all marine mammals in all waters from the coast to the edge of the economic exclusion zone.

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Sources include: Sea Mammals of the World-Randall R. Reeves, Brent S. Steware, Phillip J Clapham, James A Powell,Falkland Islands State of the Environment Report 2008 Otley H, Munro G, Clausen A, Ingham B. Wikipedia, Falklands Conservation, A Field Guide to the Wildlife of The Falkland Islands and South Georgia - Ian J Strange
Photographic credits: Ali Marsh, Face- Nigel Dowsett/Shutterstock.com, on beach unknown- hope you don't mind
Photographs and Images Copyright: The images on this site have been bought under licence or have been used with the permission of their owners. They may not be copied or downloaded in any form without their owner's

 

 
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