Page 9 - OAS Magazine Q2 Summer

PHOTOS BY: WYLAND
several weeks, but she will remain with her pup for nearly six months.
Today, training sessions are in progress. Young pups absorb the “wisdom” of their elders in a sea lion version of “monkey see, monkey do.” In the water, a small chocolate brown pup, no larger than a football, tries to match the grace of its mother, as she rolls and dips with a thrust of her large, wing-like fore flippers. These lessons are more than idle play. They will soon be essential to the survival of the pups.
The lessons the mothers have taught the pups are put to practice with other juveniles, as they ride the small surf breaks around the islands, chase each other, push each other off rocks, and engage in mock battles for territory.
In several months, the pups will become like curious young teenagers, a characteristic that Wyland can attest to as he slips with his camera into the water. Out of
nowhere, a sleek tan juvenile nips at his flipper — which proves the theory that no foreign object is safe.
Soon, what were once “clumsy” little pups will become a thing of wonder. In less than five years, the males will span up to seven feet in length and weigh in at a powerful six hundred pounds. The females will tip the scales at three-to-four hundred pounds.
They will become hunters extraordinaire capable of bursts of speed up to twenty miles per hour. They will be able to dive hundreds of feet, to the dark depths, and remain submerged up to twenty minutes, as they patiently search the water for prey. They will play, hunt, and socialize, and they will return to these waters, perhaps on a spring day like this one, to become mothers themselves.
— Steve Creech
9