by George Bailey, Editor

Use the parking for Shell Beach on The Sea Ranch, then take the public access trail and stay to the right.  As you reach the cliffs you will come upon families of California Sea Lions who favor Shell Beach and the adjoining sea caves.

April and early May is the mating season for the sea lions and one will find Shell Beach packed with 50 or more of the mammals and their pups.

This same California Sea Lion is found all along the Pacific coast.  They are considered non-migratory because there is no mass movement from summer to winter grounds, although individuals or small groups may travel hundreds of miles in search of food.  Their diet consists mainly of bottom fish such as skate, small sharks, squid and various species of rock fish.  Sea Lions may descend in search of food to a depth of 80 to 100 fathoms, and normally remain submerged no longer then four or five minutes.

If provoked the California Sea Lion would not deliberately attack a human; however, descending into the midst of a harem during mating season would be very foolish.

Sea Lion pups are about four feet long at birth and weigh from 40 to 50 pounds.  They are slate gray in color for about six months, turn dark brown until approximately two years of age, then they begin to assume the lighter tan color of the adult.  They remain with their mothers well over a year and grow rapidly, averaging about six feet long at the end of their fist year.  The pups  continue to grow, perhaps all of their lives, but the growth rate decreases each year.  Mature cows are identifiable by their size and long slender shape.  They average about eight or nine feet in length and weigh from six to seven hundred pounds.  The bulls are much larger and have massive shoulders.  They average twelve feet in length and weigh around 1500 pounds.  Many extremely large bulls have been known to weigh well over a ton.  The life span of these animals is believed to be about twenty years.

After mating season when the harem structure dissolves, the herd bulls keep constant vigil over their females.  Occasionally a young strong bachelor success in besting an older bull thereby acquiring the herd.  The herd bulls do not leave their harems even for food for perhaps three months.  Only the largest ocean waves can drive them from the ledge into the sea.  Cows display no loyalty and when a harem is broken up by a storm, the bulls may never recover all of their chosen mates.  Therefore, much of their work involves keeping their "wives" from slipping away in search of food or because of high waves and rough ocean.  Naturally the bulls have lost weight and are exhausted by the end of the breeding season and they generally spend the remainder of the summer by themselves, resting and regaining their body weight and physical strength.

The only natural enemy of the sea lion is the killer whale.  Sea Lions can easily escape the whale's pursuit by scrambling out of the water onto rocky ledges.  Throughout the years, people have probably been the greatest threat to sea lion safety.  Keeping a safe distance is recommended so as to safeguard the safety and natural process of the California Sea Lion.