So, what is the difference between seals and sea lions?

The whole time I was away it was one of those conundrums, when face to face with a healthy specimen of something, which was easily solved by asking a scientist – there was always one handy.

Now, at home, I’m having to think for myself. (With the aid of the internet, of course)

So, to have a go at explaining, let’s start at the top of the family tree – at ‘Pinnipeds’. This group is divided into three; walruses, eared seals and true seals (or earless seals).

(I’m now going to ruthlessly ignore walruses, for the purpose of my Photo Story, since we didn’t see any!)

And so, on our trip, we saw the following Pinnipeds; NZ Fur Seals and NZ Sea Lions, which are eared seals, and Elephant Seals and Weddell Seals, which are true seals.

Hence my dilemma. Not about the true seals, but about the eared seals. Seal or sea lion?

There are some specific biological differences which can be better explained by someone else.

However, as a simple measure, and given that we need to rule out the whole ‘ear thing’ as a means for determining which is which, I have learned that NZ Fur Seals can be distinguished from NZ Sea Lions by their pointy noses and by the fact that they are somewhat smaller.

Therefore, without further procrastination and elaboration, I present to you my Pinniped encounters………

(And if I’ve ended up wrongly labelling a Sea Lion as a Fur Seal, or vice versa then I’m hoping that I will be forgiven)

New Zealand Fur Seals

These photos, and the movie, were all taken on our zodiac cruise at The Snares group of islands.

New Zealand (Hooker’s) Sea Lions

We encountered sea lions on Enderby Island, where we were advised to keep our distance from the sub adult males (SAMs) scattered around the island. They can be a little confrontational, like this one, who wanted to engage one of the passengers in a little tussle, but left when there was no response.

At Campbell Island, we investigated the colony of sea lions at Camp Cove. They were very interested in us, long before we landed…

And we also came across a couple of cute pups:

Elephant Seals

They are enormous!

And smelly.

It was on Macquarie Island that we saw these handsome specimens, lounging over the path. Practically gasping from the stench, we stealthily tip toed past.

They are incredibly cumbersome….

And I was amused (with a slight amount of anxiety) to see what would happen when these penguins passed directly in front of these two Elephant Seals at Sandy Bay. (I needn’t have worried, though)

Sandy bay was quite the ‘animal kingdom’. You can just discern the two Elephant Seals fighting in the background of this photo; they were making quite a racket.

Weddell Seals

Just before leaving Cape Bird, a seal decided to take a closer look at Dr Olga Belonovich, who was waiting in the shallow water, ready to help the next zodiac land. There was some friendly interaction, until the seal appeared to get a bit keen, and Olga decided to retreat to the shore!

 

 

Now, for my final photo I have this one, taken at Sandy Bay on Macquarie Island. Can you figure out whether it is a seal or a sea lion?

It’s the picture of nonchalance, isn’t it?