Steller Sea Lion
Eumetopias jubatus
The biggest sea lion in the world — and it doesn't bark, it roars.
A bull Steller sea lion is over a tonne of muscle with a lion-like mane around his neck. They breed on remote rocky islands from Japan to California, and the western half of the population has crashed in a way scientists still argue about.
On the conservation status
The western population, from the Gulf of Alaska through the Aleutians, dropped roughly 80% since the 1970s and is listed as Endangered in the United States.
- Length
- Males up to 3.3 m (11 ft)
- Weight
- Males up to 1,120 kg
- Lifespan
- 20–30 years
- Diet
- Pollock, herring, salmon, squid
- Dive depth
- Usually under 200 m
- Range
- Japan to central California
The good stuff.
Named after a shipwrecked naturalist
Georg Wilhelm Steller described them in 1741 while stranded on a Bering Sea island during a disastrous Russian expedition. Several Arctic animals carry his name; several of them are now extinct.
They roar, they don't bark
California sea lions yap. Steller bulls produce a deep, belly-shaking roar and a rattling growl that carries across a whole rookery.
The mane is real
Adult males grow long, coarse fur around the neck and shoulders — jubatus literally means maned. Combined with the roar, the name sea lion has never been more earned.
Pups stay a long time
Many Steller pups nurse for a full year, and some stay with their mother for two or three. That's unusually long for a sea lion.
A mystery decline
The western population collapsed and nobody is certain why. The leading ideas are shifts in what fish are available, competition with fisheries, and increased predation by orcas.
They need specific rocks
Steller sea lions return to the same traditional rookeries every year. Protecting those exact rocks is a big part of the recovery plan.
Wait, really?
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Pups are born nearly a metre long and 20 kg — bigger than many adult harbor seal pups.
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They sometimes eat northern fur seal pups and harbor seals, which is unusual for a sea lion.
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A rookery is for breeding; a haul-out is just for resting. Sea lions use both, for different things.
What it sounds like
Deep roars, snorts and low growls — much more lion than dog.
Where you might see one
Alaska's Gulf coast and the Aleutians, British Columbia, the Oregon coast, and Año Nuevo in California.
The trouble
- Prey competition with commercial fisheries
- Entanglement in gear and packing bands
- Ocean warming shifting fish stocks
- Disturbance at rookeries
One real thing
Boats and drones near a rookery can stampede a whole colony and crush pups. Keep well back, and don't fly drones over hauled-out animals.
More ways to help