Steller Sea Lions
Steller Sea Lions are not only endangered, but they are also the largest eared sea lions in the world. They are about the size of VW bug. They are light brown but have darker brown undersides and flippers. The babies are very dark when they are born. The males reach weights in excess of 1,700 pounds, and they have puffed-up and very noticeable manes. The females are a lot smaller and their normal weight is about 570 pounds. The Steller Sea Lions are at home on land and in the water. They use their extended front flippers to propel themselves and their rear flippers for steering under the water. But on land sea lions pull their rear flippers up under themselves and “rolling walk” on all fours.
The Steller Sea Lions are very sociable animals on land and they use the same sites for breeding, raising their babies, and even resting. The most well known Steller sea lion habitats are "rookeries". Rookeries and haulouts thatn are usually located on mostly remote islands where access by predators is very limited. The adult sea lions gather to mate and give birth. They mostly give birth from late May to early July. Steller sea lions are "polygymous", which means there is one dominant male that mates with many of the females.
Steller sea lions feed primarily upon schooling fish, like pollock and herring, but the also eat other invertebrates, like squid and octopus. They can be found all throughout the North Pacific Ocean from the Kuril Islands and Okhotsk Sea, through the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, and south along the North American coast to central California. About 70 percent of the worldwide Steller sea lion population resides in Alaska.
In the mid-1970s and even present there was about a 70 percent decline in the Alaska portion of the population. The caues for the decline are unknown but some of the theories are disease, environmental change, and the effects of commercial fisheries, which results in a decline in sea lion food. Some recent population surveys show that the decline is rising. In 1989 the estimated number for the Alaska portion of the Steller sea lion population was approximately 64,000 animals.
Bloom Taxonomy
Comprehension: We have demonstrated 2 animals in the ocean, and how they can affect humans, or even just other animals around them.
Application: We have interviewed one of our old Biology teachers. We asked her questions on what Marine Biology is, and how it came to be.
Analysis: We also have examined how so many creatures are becoming or are close to becoming extinct, and what is causing this delema.
Synthesis:We have designed some examples of Marine Biology and what it contains.
Evaluation: We have evaluated that Marine Biology is just like a group which all these animals, mammals, and plants belong to because they either live or are located in or near the water..