Sea Lions in Los Cabos, Mexico

If you have been in an amusement marine park, you know your day is not complete without the show performed by some excellent swimmers, naturally friendly, dark-brown haired, known as seals. However, these playful mammals are really sea lions, from the Californian variety. Differences between sea lions ans seals are subtle, basically while sea lions have external ears (thus known as eared seals as well) and fur that helps to protect themselves from cold, seals lack both. Sea lions are believed to descend from a bear-like mammal, seals from an otter-like one.

Males can weigh up to 500 pounds, females usually weigh half of it. In the mating season, males gather as many females as he can to create his "harem". Females give birth to a pup after a 12-month gestation, generally between June and Jul. The mother nurses the pup for about 8 months, sometimes even more. Sea lions are the only mammals whose milk doesn´t contain lactose.

Sea lions are extremely sociable and adaptable. In the wild they are found in the Alaskan cold the same as in the tropical heat of Baja. On land they are somewhat clumsy, you can see them on the rocks or the beach, on buoys sometimes as well, peacefully under the sun, although most of the time they are hunting in the sea. Once in water they become real torpedos, reaching speeds around 25 miles per hour. They play, they chase and hunt fish and squid schools.

Their natural charisma and their sharp intellignce, comparable to that of a dog, has taken them to be the star in aquatic shows and circuses; sea lions have also been trained to perform sea rescues and participate in marine intelligence, and they seem to enjoy their interaction with humans.

A way to know that is measuring their reproduction in captivity, which is abundant. That is why it hasn't been necessary to catch wild sea lions in years. On the contrary, its population in the wild has decreased lately, mainly because of damages to their habitat and because they get tangled in fishing nets. Even so, they are not considered an endangered species.

At Los Cabos you will find thriving colonies of sea lions in the wild, typically on the rocks right in front of Cabo San Lucas inlet. Admire this amazing characters as they bark like dogs or shake their fins to clap. There couldn't be a better welcome.