Animal Directory Featured species in the planned Aquarium & Marine Realm habitat
Photo: Jonathan Eisen CC BY 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
California Sea Lion
Zalophus californianus
Young Explorer Notes
Three quick things to know about the California Sea Lion.
- Superpower
Can dive to depths of 270 metres and hold its breath for up to 10 minutes, using muscle-stored oxygen the way whales do.
- Home
Shimmering tanks and tunnels under the sea.
- How to help
Doing great in the wild!
Scientists say this species is safe for now. We still learn about them to keep it that way.
Fun facts for everyone
- Can dive to depths of 270 metres and hold its breath for up to 10 minutes, using muscle-stored oxygen the way whales do.
- Among the fastest swimming pinnipeds, capable of bursts of 40 km/h using its powerful foreflippers as wings underwater.
- Routinely rated among the smartest non-primate mammals — has been taught abstract logic, symbol matching, and to keep time to music.
- Males develop a high bony crown on the skull (the "sagittal crest") at sexual maturity and roar continuously to defend rookery territory.
- IUCN lists the species as Least Concern with a robust, growing population estimated above 250,000 individuals.
From the master plan
The California Sea Lion is the planned Aquarium & Marine Realm’s Sea Lion Cove resident — the most personality-forward animal in the zone, holding court across the rocky haul-out and underwater viewing window with the kind of barking that carries the length of the building.
IUCN status sourced from the California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) assessment (Aurioles-Gamboa & Hernández-Camacho, 2015) on the IUCN Red List — listed as Least Concern with an increasing population trend.
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