First of all I'd like to encourage anyone visiting this blog to check out the official PMMC website. Getting involved with pinnipeds is really easy, and a little help goes a LONG way! There are a ton of things you can do to help out- from volunteering to donating items like towels and Dawn soap! Even if you don't live in California you can donate money to keep the center running!
Now, back to the blog..
This week had it's ups and downs, but overall it was really positive. We give special "fish milkshakes" to animals that are unable to eat whole fish on their own. This is a process we call "tube feeding" because they drink the milkshake from a tube that's put into their stomach (ugly, I know, but it keeps them a
live). Anyway, all of our juveniles were healthy enough this week to not need to be tube fed! They all got their own fresh fish lunch. This little guy even got to search the kddie-pool for his food.
He was too excited to sit still for a picture..
The other pups were full of energy, and played with each other all day.
Most of our other sea lions were just as healthy and just as happy. Everyone in the outside pens cuddled together under the California sun. When it got too hot they'd just take a dip in the pool. I love the texture of the sea lion's fur in the following pictures. Their hair is extremely dense in order to insulate body heat - thick fur keeps them warm in the cold water! You can see how their thick fur becomes completely streamlined and flat when it gets wet. This helps them swim fast underwater by reducing drag.
On a sadder note- 2 adult female sea lions were brought in earlier in the week. They were found on the coast near Newport and Crystal Cove. Any time an adult comes in it means bad news. These two were both affected by Domoic acid poisoning, and probably came ashore because they were too disoriented to swim. Domoic acid is a neurotoxin produced by harmful algal blooms. These blooms mainly occur because of things that humans put into the water, and I will probably go into detail on Domoic acid in a future post. The poisoning, called amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), cannot be cured, so the best we can do for these two animals (we call them the "big ladies") is make sure they keep eating as long as they are able to, and to keep them comfortable while they are afflicted with this horrible condition. When the poisoning spreads far enough through the sea lion's body the most humane thing to do is to euthanize them so they do not have to endure the painful end that Domoic brings.
I know that this is pretty heavy information, but it's something that's happening very often on our coast- to all animals. It's important to understand how intimate our relationship to the ocean is (even if we don't know it yet)!
The sidebar of the blog lists many kind of pinnipeds- so why am I only talking about sea lions today? Well, the local population of sea lions is very large compared to the other 3. This results in a larger concentration of sea lions coming into the rescue center. Right now we are only housing sea lions, but it won't be that way for long. The type of pinniped being rescued can be based on the season. For instance, Elephant Seals are mating right now in Northern Califorina, and in the following months their pups will be migrating south. We are expecting to see a VERY LARGE influx of elephant seals needing our help in Southern California starting in March, so stay tuned!
