There is nothing worse than someone putting their face up to yours and them having a severe case of halitosis. 😉
These two Steller sea lions were having a bit of a disagreement on the rocks of Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska. This was a fun stop as we visited a haulout where there was a colony of about two dozen of these cool creatures.
I think the thing that struck me most about the visit was the noise. These guys are very, very vocal to each other – their non-stop cacophony of barking was quite striking.
Many of the sea lions were also quite large. Females average seven feet long and weigh 600 pounds. Males are a good bit larger at nine feet long and average 1500 pounds with the big boys going up to 2400 pounds!
The Aleuts call them “seevitchie” and Russians call them “sivuch”. Both translate to “seawolf.” The name we call them comes from a naturalist aboard the 1741 Vitus Bering expeditions, George Wilhelm Steller.