These are my final images of the Californian sea lions in Fuerteventura.
The female sea lions at Oceanarium Explorer are 17 years old, but Casper the male is only 4. Once he is fully sized he will be twice the size of Donna and Debbie. I have made sure that the sea lion is in the centre of the shot to keep the focus of the attention on her.
The species of the Californian sea lion is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN due to "its large and increasing population size". Sea lions can see in colour, although their vision is limited to the blue/green area on the colour spectrum, and they can actually see and hear better underwater. I thought this made an interesting shot as the sea lion is yawning, and that makes quite a dramatic pose.
This is Debbie and Donna in one of the smaller pools enclosures. They are able to go into the bigger pool as well, but are usually put into the smaller one after a certain time in the afternoon. The females tend to be less aggressive and so are the ones that interact more with the public. Debbie and Donna have been at this particular place for 15 years. I wanted an image with both of the female sea lions in together, and this shot was my most in focus including the two sea lions.
These Californian sea lions have a signal at Oceanarium Explorer, that if they don't wan to be seen by the public they swim with one flipper out of the pool. Any plans for the day are then cancelled, such as having photos taken and the possibility of swimming with them - although this swimming experience happens only once a day, and not every day. I like this image as the sea lion is looking at the camera as it swims by, and the directness almost links the viewer with the animal.
I wanted to use this photo as a title or something as the sea lion is to the left of the image, leaving a blank space for writing, so I ended up using it as the background image for my blog. The sea lion is visible to the side of my writing and images, with the deep blue/turquoise colour being a contrasting background.
This is Donna. She is the sea lion who has been taught a few tricks such as opening her mouth and waving her flipper. This photograph shows the trust between her and the trainer Danny, as she is allowing him to put his hand in her mouth. I included this image as it is a closer look at the sea lion, as well as including the trainer in the shot.
This is Donna with her trainer Danny. This photograph displays not only the trick where Donna places her nose on Danny's hand, but also the bond between the sea lion and the trainer.
This is a close-up of Donna with trainer Danny. Here they are showing me one of the few tricks that Donna has been taught, and that is to wave her flipper.
The main differences between sea lions and seals is that sea lions have visible ear flaps (as seen in the photograph), and are able to walk on land with their large flippers. This is due to the fore flippers being stronger and more developed, as well as rotating their hind flippers forward underneath them. Again, I like the connection that the viewer can make with the sea lion due to the directness of its stare at my camera. Also the fact fits in with the image, as certain features of the sea lion that are being described are visible to back up the fact.
The sea lions are each fed 10 kilos of fish a day, and weigh between 80-90 kilos each. I included this image as it shows not only the daily routine but the positive reinforcement when the sea lion performs a trick (in this case coming when called.
The trainers and female sea lions at Oceanarium Explorer work with children with special needs, such as cerebral palsy and autism. This is because female sea lions are less aggressive and very interactive with the public as they are social animals.
Although Casper and the female sea lions are separated for part of the day to get used to each other's company, after the public are gone in the afternoon they are all put together in one pool. Debbie is still not so sure of Casper, but Donna gets on well with him. Donna is the more social of the female sea lions anyway as she is the one who has her pictures taken and is more in the 'public eye'.
Here is Donna with trainer Danny. Danny is from Alicante and has worked with sea lions for 15 years. I wanted to include an image of Danny as it becomes more real with a person in the image as well, instead of just wildlife photography. It also highlights the interaction between them, and puts a face to the 'trainer' I often mention.
Casper was transferred from a park in Tenerife as his trainers could not work with him due to him biting them. In just 2 weeks progress with him has been made already and other employees can safely feed him as well. He's settling in well at the Oceanarium, and is getting on well with the trainers and other sea lions.
These are the enclosures that they live in. As you can see the pools are in the sea itself, and the pools are 25 feet deep. There is only a small rope and a widely spaced wire fence around the enclosures, so it wouldn't be hard for the sea lions to escape if they wanted to.
I wanted to include facts about Californian sea lions as well as about these particular ones so that the project was more well-rounded and informative. I decided to use the following hashtags when posting an image on Instagram, so that they would hopefully reach a wider audience. #oceanariumexplorer (this is the name of the place where I took the images) #canaryislands #sealions #ocean #conservation #Fuerteventura.
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