May 2, 2025 • 28 mins
What’s the difference between seals and sea lions? Do seals bark? Are they gray? Do harbor seals live in snowy regions? Why do sea lions eat fish? Why do sea lions fight each other? Seals and sea lions are pinnipeds, fin-footed marine mammals, and we’re learning all about them today with a visit to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California, where marine biologist Adam Ratner answers all your pinniped questions!
Download our learning guides: PDF | Google Slide | Transcript
You can watch the sea lions at San Francisco’s Pier 39 no matter where you live by checking out the live stream at pier39.com/sealions!
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:00):
Music.
Jane (00:20):
This is But Why
Vermont Public. I'm JaneLindholm. On this show, we take
questions from curious kids justlike you, and we find answers.
When I was little, I wanted tobe a marine biologist. I wanted
to learn all about the animalsthat live in the ocean. And I
know I'm not the only onefascinated by marine animals
(00:42):
because we get lots of questionsabout them. We've done episodes
about fish and jellyfish andwhales and sharks and lobsters
and snails, and we've writtenabout even more marine wildlife
in our book, "Do Fish BreatheUnderwater?" But we've never
done a podcast episode aboutpinnipeds. Do you know what a
(01:02):
pinniped is? Don't worry,neither did I. Their name means
fin-footed, and they haveflippers for both front and back
legs. They're all meat eaters.They're mammals. They live in
the ocean, but they come on landto rest and to have their
babies, and some of them barkalmost like dogs. Maybe, you
guessed it, but pinnipeds areseals, sea lions and walruses.
(01:28):
In today's episode, we're goingto talk about the first two, and
next week we'll release a bonusepisode just about walruses. To
make this episode one of ourproducers, Sarah, traveled to a
research and rescue center inSausalito, California, and
there, Sarah found someone whoactually did become a marine
biologist, unlike me.
Adam Ratner (01:50):
My name is Adam Ratner, and I'm the director of
conservation engagement at theMarine Mammal Center. I study
seals and sea lions. I help toget them better and healthy if
they're sick, and then what welearn from them, I share those
stories so that people allaround the world know how they
can help give seals and sealions and other marine mammals a
(02:11):
second chance at life in ahealthy ocean.
Jane (02:13):
So tell me a little bit about the center and how you do
this work. What kind of facilitydo you have, and what are we
hearing at the center now?
Unknown (02:22):
The Marine Mammal Center is the world's largest
marine mammal hospital, so werescue, rehabilitate and release
sick and injured marine mammalsfrom up and down around 600
miles of California coast. We'llget the animals better, get them
back out into the wild, andwhile they're in our care at the
hospital, we're learning aboutthem, figuring out what's going
on out in the ocean, and thenbeing able to teach folks around
(02:44):
ways that we can all take actionto create a healthy ocean for
marine mammals and people alike.Right now, we've got just under
50 patients that we're takingcare of, and you're hearing some
of the baby elephant seals thatare at the hospital. These
animals are around two to fourmonths old. They've been
separated from their mom early,and are just really, really
skinny, and they make this kindof weird cackling sound, kind of
(03:07):
like an evil chicken, and that'swhat's happening in the
background, and they've becomereally famous for it as well.
Jane (03:13):
Sea lions are among the animals movie makers used as
models for the fictionalcreatures you can see on screen
in Jurassic Park, Lord of theRings and How to Train Your
Dragon. Listen closely, if youwatch any of those movies and
see if the velociraptors, orcsand baby dragons sound anything
like what you're hearing in thebackground at the Marine Mammal
(03:35):
Center. But of course, thebabies Adam takes care of aren't
evil, even if he says they dosound like evil chickens. They
make those sounds becausethey're trying to get the
attention of their parents, orin this case, they're human
caretakers.
Unknown (03:50):
Correct. Yeah. So elephant seals, particularly the
babies, they have a lot to talkabout. Mom and babies certainly
know each other's voice. Itmakes sense to all of them. From
our perspective, it's always alittle hard to know what they're
trying to say. Sometimes itmight be them saying that
they're hungry. Sometimes itcould be saying, hey, give me a
little bit of space. If one getstoo close to them, they are also
(04:13):
babies. So I think sometimesthey're just saying, like, hey,
look at me. Look at me. I'm overhere. Look at me. Look at me. A
little bit of a mix of all ofthem, to be honest.
Jane (04:22):
Why do you have so many what is happening that so many
of them are getting separatedfrom their mothers?
Unknown (04:27):
So each year, we tend to see a lot of these baby
elephant seals coming into thehospital in the springtime, and
that's because they're born inthe winter, basically December
through February. Andunfortunately, these baby
elephant seals can get separatedfrom their moms, things like big
storms can separate them, or thebabies can struggle to find food
on their own. So what happensis, starting in around February
(04:49):
through April, we see a lot ofthese really, really skinny
elephant seals coming up ontothe beaches, sick and starving.
Luckily, people, familieswalking along the beach see
these animals, they get on thephone, they call the Marine
Mammal Center, and we can bringthem into our hospital and get
them better. They are justreally, really underweight. So a
baby elephant seal, the momentthey're born, they're already
(05:12):
about the size of a thirdgrader. They weigh 75 pounds.
Jane (05:15):
Wow.
Adam Ratner (05:16):
By the time they turn one month old, they should
weigh 300 pounds. So these aremassive babies. The elephant
seals we have right now arearound two to four months old,
but instead of being 300 pounds,they only weigh around 75 so
they're just skin and bonesstruggling to find food. They
might not even know how to eatfish yet, so our team of
(05:37):
veterinarians and volunteers areteaching them how to eat fish,
plumping them up, getting themreally fat, and making sure that
they're going to be able to goback out to the wild soon.
Jane (05:47):
In the wild, how long would an elephant seal pups, how
long would one live with itsmother?
Adam Ratner (05:51):
So it's a really short period of time with mom.
So elephant seals actually spendonly one month with their mom.
That's it.
Jane (05:58):
Wow.
Adam Ratner (05:58):
All they do is they sit side by side with them up on
the beach, and they drink theirmom's milk. And every day they
drink their mom's milk, they'regonna gain eight pounds. So they
get super fat in this one month,and then mom takes off and
doesn't come back. And the pupsup on the beach, never having
been in the water before, so itdoesn't know how to swim. It's
never seen a fish, it's nevereaten anything, and they have to
(06:22):
learn it all by themselves. Andwhat's amazing is that they do.
They use a lot of that 300pounds, those fat reserves, to
give them the time that theyneed to kind of practice and
learn, and are able, withinaround a month to two months, to
be able to head out into theocean on their own. The problem
that we see with our animals is,if they don't get to that 300
pounds, they don't have all thatfat. There was reserves to give
(06:44):
them the time. So they're reallystruggling to just simply
survive, and they don't havethat time to kind of learn and
spend time in school, if youwill, in that kind of right
mental space.
Jane (06:54):
So how do you at the center make sure that you're
teaching them how to do thethings they need to do in the
wild when they're not in thewild and they're actually
interacting with humans.
Adam Ratner (07:04):
So it's a really tough balance here at the
hospital, because we don't wantany of these animals getting
used to people. So all the workthat we're doing is trying to
keep them wild. So when it comesto swimming, we're just giving
them access to the water. Wehave different pens and pools
that are different depths. Sothey can just kind of get into
it a little bit and feel wet.They can dive down real deep.
(07:25):
When it comes to food, we makethem a delicious fish smoothie
that we can pump directly intotheir bodies. And then once
they're able to start eatingfish, they all go to what we
call fish school. So we take afish, we put it on a string, and
from a distance, we drag thatfish around the pool. And over
time, the elephant seals getcurious, just like babies. They
(07:47):
see this kind of shiny thingmoving, and they want to explore
it, so they touch it with theirmouth. They might put it in
their mouth. Then all of asudden, they realize fish is
delicious, and they are willingto start chasing after it. And
we can just throw the fish intothe pool, let the animals fight
over it, and that's when we knowthey've graduated from fish
school and are on their wayready for release.
Jane (08:07):
So only a little bit different from how we humans eat
in our own families.
Adam Ratner (08:11):
Exactly.
Jane (08:12):
While we're talking about these elephant seals, can I ask
you a few of the questions thatkids have sent us about seals
more generally?
Adam Ratner (08:19):
Please.
Rowan (08:21):
My name is Rowan. I'm six years old, and I live in North
Carolina. Why do seals bark?
Unknown (08:28):
Seals and sea lions all have different sounds that they
make, and with sea lions, thoseare the ones that bark a little
bit more, kind of like a dog.Seals, like the elephant seals,
have this cackling sound. Harborseals have this more kind of
like ma, ma call that they make.So just like with people, every
(08:49):
type of animal has a differentvoice, and it's how they talk to
each other. They definitely knowwhat they're saying. Moms and
babies know each other's voices,just like if you're at the
grocery store with your mom, andyou turn around and you realize
that you don't know where yourmom is right now. You can just
scream, Hey, Mom, where are you?And mom knows exactly your
voice. And you reunite at thecereal aisle. Same thing happens
(09:12):
with these elephant seals out onthe beach. So it's how they talk
to each other and communicate.
Lucy (09:16):
My name is Lucy. I live in Columbia, South Carolina, and I
want to know why are seals gray?
Unknown (09:24):
So seals and sea lions can be actually all different
types of colors. So with theelephant seals, for example,
that we have at the hospital,they're born with a black fur.
So that first one month, they'vegot this thick black fur. And
that's actually going to helpkeep them warm, because you
think about like wearing a blackT shirt outside on a sunny day.
It absorbs all that sun. Ithelps those elephant seals. When
(09:46):
they turn one month old, theyget rid of the black fur, and
they get a gray fur or a silverfur. And other seals and sea
lions have different things aswell. So harbor seals are
actually spotted. They're one ofthe only spotted seals or sea
lions you'll find in the UnitedStates. So each one's a little
bit different. Gray, just interms of all different kind of
animals in the wild, helps youblend in in the water a little
(10:08):
bit. So if you're kind of at thesurface, you can blend in a
little bit with the silhouetteof the sun or the darkness of
the ocean below you. So it's oneway to maybe hide from other
animals in the ocean if you'regray.
Maisie (10:21):
You've mentioned harbor seals a couple of times, and
Maisie has a question aboutthose seals in particular.
I'm five years old. And I livein Sacramento, California and I
want to know why harbor sealshave to live in the snow?
Jane (10:35):
Why do harbor seals live in the snow?
Unknown (10:37):
So harbor seals you can find in a lot of different parts
of the world. So some of themlive up in the Arctic area where
it is snowing. Others actuallylive in California. So here at
the hospital right now, we'vegot five baby harbor seals that
we're taking care of. So Ialways like to think about with
the harbor seals the same waywith people. Sometimes some just
(10:57):
like different climates. So somepeople like living in Maine and
Vermont, where it's really,really cold. I'm not that
person. I like to be out inCalifornia, where it's a little
bit warmer. So you've gotdifferent populations. They
don't necessarily swim that bigdistance. They have kind of
their home area they likespending time in, but they're
built for it. The ones that livein the cold where the snow,
(11:18):
they're a little bit bigger, alittle bit fattier, and they've
got that blubber to keep themwarm, compared to some of the
ones that are in California,where it's a little bit warmer.
Jane (11:26):
Tell us a little bit more about blubber, because not only
is blubber an amazingly fun wordto say, it's also really
important to these marineanimals, especially ones that
live in cold water.
Adam Ratner (11:36):
Exactly, blubber is fat. It's a very fun word for
fat and seals and sea lions andwhales and dolphins are very
fat, so it's what's going tohelp them stay warm in this
really, really cold water,because they're mammals just
like us. If you stand a seal ora sea lion up against you, they
have all the same bones. Theyhave all the same organs in all
(11:57):
the same places. So blubber iswhat we call an adaptation. It's
going to allow them to live inthis different environment than
what people live in.
Jane (12:05):
How many different kinds of seals are there?
Unknown (12:07):
There are so many different types of seals. I
think there are over 30different types of seals and sea
lions, so pinnipeds, theseflipper -footed animals.
Jane (12:18):
That's another amazing word, and I'm really glad you
said it Adam, because I want toknow more about what a pinniped
is. I love saying that word.
Adam Ratner (12:26):
Yeah, so if you break the word down, so the end
part, ped, you might think ofthat in other words that we use
every single day. So pedal orpedestrian or pedometer, it
means foot. Pinna means flipperor feather. So these are
flipper-footed mammals. So it'sseals sea lions, and then the
(12:47):
walrus also fits into thatgroup. They're kind of like the
one man out one of these thingsdoesn't look like the others is
the walrus within the pinnipeds.
Jane (12:56):
Walruses have flippers, just like seals and sea lions,
but they look pretty differentfrom the other two pinnipeds.
For starters, walruses have twobig tusks and a mustache, and
there are no walruses at theMarine Mammal Center. That's
because walruses live up in theArctic. We're going to get to
walruses next week in our bonusepisode, but coming up, we're
(13:18):
going to learn about sea lions,and we'll take a side trip to a
very special place famous as ahangout for them. Stay tuned.
This is But Why (13:27):
a Podcast for Curious Kids? I'm Jane Lindholm,
today we're learning aboutpinnipeds, flipper-footed marine
mammals. Those are sea lions ata place called Pier 39 part of
the Fisherman's Wharf area inSan Francisco, California. Lots
(13:48):
of sea lions come and hang outon the boat docks at Pier 39
they play with each other, butmostly they just seem to nap.
Tourists go to visit thembecause it's so fun to be able
to see these huge animals upclose. Producer Sarah went to
Pier 39 but instead ofinterviewing the sea lions, she
talked with some of the kids whowere watching them. And sure
(14:10):
enough, those kids had lots ofquestions.
My name is Um I'm 10 years old.I'm visiting from Fresno,
California in from the CentralValley. Why are there so many
sea lions in Pier 39?
I asked our guest for thisepisode, Adam Ratner, a marine
biologist at the Marine MammalCenter, why there are so many
(14:31):
sea lions at Pier 39.
Adam Ratner (14:33):
Basically, over 30 years ago, some sea lions found
these open docks that no one wasusing. They had just been doing
construction on them, and theboats hadn't come back, and they
realized that this was anawesome place to come and just
rest and hang out. So in thevery first year, in 1989 there
were a handful of sea lions thatshowed up. No one really did
(14:54):
anything. They just let them bethere, and they told all their
friends. And then pretty soon,hundreds ofsSea lions started
showing up there, and now,depending on the time of year,
you might show up to Pier 39 andwe saw over 1,500 California sea
lions at Pier 39 last year onone day. So it's this huge
(15:14):
hangout spot, basically, for sealions. And the reason why we
think they like Pier 39 the bestis because it's a safe place.
It's away from any predators.People have kind of given them
these docks so they don't haveto worry about people, kind of
interrupting them and botheringthem. And the same reason why
people are there, there's a lotof good fish and food in the
bay, so you've got this kind ofresting spot. I think about it
(15:38):
as almost like as a gas stationor a rest up on the highway when
you're on a big road trip up anddown the California coast.
That's what the sea lions aredoing. And this is a place to
kind of rest, grab a little bitof food, relax for a few days
before you head either down toSouthern California to hang out
with all the females, or up tokind of the Northern California,
(15:59):
Vancouver, British Columbiaarea, where maybe you're going
to your favorite restaurant forfood.
Jane (16:04):
And they don't mind that so many people like to watch
them.
Unknown (16:07):
They don't. They seem to kind of ignore us. What's
really great is there is aseparation, so you're not able
to touch them. It's against thelaw of feed them or throw
anything towards them. So we canbe close enough that we can see
them really well. But they dohave their space, which is
really important, and we've seenif people do get close, we
actually scare them away. Soit's a sign that if we can view
(16:30):
wildlife responsibly and safely,always keep our distance, use
your zoom on your camera ratherthan get too close, be really
quiet around them. We have thisreally amazing opportunity to
see wildlife up close and enjoywhat's in our own backyard.
Jane (16:45):
Even if you don't live anywhere near San Francisco, you
can watch a live video stream ofthe sea lions at the pier. The
website is pier 39.com/sealions.We'll put that in our show notes
too. But if you're looking at abig four flippered animals
swimming through the water, andyou're not on that live stream.
How do you know if it's a sealor a sea lion?
Kiara (17:08):
My name is Kiara. I am from Dublin, California, and I'm
nine years old. What is thedifference between sea lions and
seals?
Adam Ratner (17:20):
So sea lions, in my mind, are like lions. So lions
Olivia (17:22):
My name is Olivia. I mean, eight. Why do sea lions
have ear flaps, just like wehave that you can see. Lions
have these big front paws thatthey can walk around on, and
lions are brown. Sea lions arelike lions. They have all those
same features. Seals, if youwant a way to remember them, are
kind of more like sausages. Sosausages don't have any ears
that you can see. Seals willjust have little tiny holes in
(17:45):
their head. They don't havethese big flippers. They kind of
scoot around on their bellieslike big caterpillars or worms.
And then seals are either goingto be kind of this one grayish
or brown color, or they could bespotted, kind of like how
sausages usually look. So Ialways remember sea lions are
like lions. Seals are like sausages.
(18:13):
swim?
Jane (18:15):
Do all pinnipeds swim?
Adam Ratner (18:16):
Yes, so all pinnipeds swim, and they're
built different ways to swim. Sosea lions have these really big
front flippers. They can usethem, kind of like our arms. And
they're really, really fastswimmers. So they can swim 25
miles an hour, which is fivetimes faster than the fastest
human swimmer. So they'rereally, really quick and agile.
(18:38):
And they can also come up ontoland. They jump up onto docks,
like at Pier 39. Seals are alsoreally good swimmers, but
they're gonna use their backflippers instead, and those
tiny, short, front flippers arekind of like the steering wheel.
It's gonna help them kind ofjust make little turns more than
anything else.
Tej (18:55):
My name is Tej, T- E- J. [sea lion noises] Why do they
need to eat fish?
Jane (19:06):
That really sounded just like the sea lions and Maggie
from San Francisco has the samequestion.
Maggie (19:13):
Why does sea lions eat fish?
Adam Ratner (19:16):
So fish is delicious. Fish is super healthy
for them. It gives them all thenutrients they need. Obviously,
there's a fair amount of fishout there for these animals to
eat. Seals and sea lions are toppredators, so they eat a lot of
different things. Here at thehospital, we feed them herring,
which is a relatively smallfish, but out in the wild, a sea
(19:37):
lion or an elephant seal couldeat something like stingray, it
could eat actually small sharks,octopus. So these animals do eat
a lot of different types ofthings, but fish is just gonna
be one of the things that'smaybe a little bit easier to
catch and gives you all thoseyummy nutrients that you need to
grow big and strong.
Avery (19:58):
My name is Avery. I'm nine years old, and I'm from
Indiana, and my question is, howdo we tell the females from the
males?
Adam Ratner (20:06):
Sea lions, there are two different types that we
find in the United States, sothe stellar sea lion and the
California sea lion. And stellarsea lions are really why sea
lions were called lions. Sostellar sea lions are found up
in Alaska and Washington state,and they are huge. The boys get
up to be over 2,000 pounds, andthey actually do develop this
(20:28):
thick mane around their neck,and it's only the boys that get
that. And the females, thegirls, they don't get that. It's
a difference between the boysand the girls, and it allows the
boys to show that they are afull grown adult kind of, hey,
look at me. Look how big I am.Look at my beautiful mane. And
it's a way for them to get maybegirlfriends out on those
(20:48):
beaches. With the California sealions, It's a little bit
different. The boys are stillmuch bigger. So boys get to
around 750 pounds. The girlsonly around 250 so the boys are
three times the size.
Jane (21:02):
Yeah, that's a big difference.
Adam Ratner (21:03):
Yeah, and they don't get a mane. But the male
sea lions, when they turn aroundfive years old, they actually
develop a bump on the top oftheir head. It's what we call a
sagittal crest, and what it kindof looks like is a big mohawk as
they get older. And it's thesame way. It's the way for the
male sea lions to show off toall the females, saying, Hey,
look at my big mohawk. I'm thebiggest, strongest male out
(21:26):
here.
Braden (21:27):
I'm Braden. I'm 12 years old, and I'm from Plainfield,
Indiana. Why do sea lions fighteach other?
Adam Ratner (21:34):
They put on a good show at Pier 39 certainly. So
all those sea lions at Pier 39again, you might have 50 of them
there at one time, or you couldhave over 1,000 of them at one
time, and almost all of them areactually males. And it's because
the sea lions migrate. They gofrom Southern California all the
way up to around Washingtonstate. But the females stay
(21:57):
closer to Southern California,and it's the males that go up
and down the California coastthe most. So all those males at
Pier 39 are hanging out. They'reresting either on their way up
to their favorite restaurant oron their way down to the
breeding grounds, where all thefemales are. So one of the
things that we tend to see isall these males are actually
(22:18):
practicing their fightingbecause when they go down to
Southern California, they kindof have to fight with each other
to get the girlfriends. This isa place for them to do that. It
could also be that they justhave their favorite spot on the
dock and they don't want to bebothered, so they're going to
fight for that really sunny spotaway from some of the other
animals. But it's never reallyto hurt the animals. It's to
(22:41):
show that they're the biggest,they're the strongest, and
that's going to help them whenit comes time to be around the
girlfriends.
Jane (22:48):
As humans, we have more in common with seals and sea lions
than you might think. Wementioned that they're mammals,
and so are we. Mammals give livebirth to their babies and feed
them milk. That's what seals andsea lions do. They don't lay
eggs.
Adam Ratner (23:04):
So what we're going to see with seals and sea lions
when it's time to have theirbabies. For the sea lions,
they're going to go all down toSouthern California, and they're
going to go to these big beachesdown at the Channel Islands, and
they're going to have,typically, one baby at a time.
We almost never see twins, andwe don't really see siblings the
(23:24):
same year type of thing. So onebaby at a time, the sea lions,
they spend six to nine monthswith their mom, and they're
gonna learn to swim with theirmom, and they're gonna go find
food with their mom, and then ataround nine months old, they're
out on their own, and that'swhen they might start swimming
up and down the Californiacoast. With the elephant seals,
we talked about this one alittle bit earlier, born in the
(23:45):
winter time, and the baby onlyspends one month with mom, and
they just get really, reallyfat. They drink all their mom's
milk, and then they have tolearn everything else on their
own. So it is different thanpeople, but it's always a live
birth with a baby, and the momwill spend a little bit of time
with them, getting them readyfor life on their own. It's so
(24:05):
fascinating as well to think youlook at these animals that look
so different, like a sea lion,like a walrus, like an elephant
seal, but you realize how muchlike humans they are. They're
all mammals. So we all breathethe same air, we eat the same
food. We swim in the same areas,but they're, they're different
at the same time.
Jane (24:26):
And the really cool thing is, by studying seals and sea
lions, researchers not onlylearn new things about these
animals, but they can also learnimportant things about our
oceans and even human health.
Adam Ratner (24:38):
Oh so much so seals and sea lions because they're
they're like people, they'remammals. We call them sentinels
of the sea, or ecosystemindicators. So they tell us
about the health of the ocean.They eat the same food that we
do, they swim in the same waterthat we do. They breathe the
same air that we do. So here atthe hospital, the issues we see
(24:58):
seals and sea lions coming inwith give us signs of, what are
the impacts of climate change,or what are the impacts of
toxins and poisons that are inthe water? What's happening to
the fish right off our coast isthe fish healthy? Is the fish
plentiful? So so many thingswhere we can get these animals
better at the hospital, but itactually helps us do better
(25:19):
human medicine. We use the sametreatments that you might get at
a human hospital, and we'veactually discovered new
treatments here at the hospitalon animals that people might get
at the hospital if they getsick.
Jane (25:31):
So how are sea lions doing generally? What are we seeing in
their populations? So
Adam Ratner (25:37):
Luckily, California sea lions and elephant seals,
their populations have beengrowing. They're really success
stories. These animals used tobe hunted and the numbers were
really low, but with protectionsfor the past 50 years the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, we'veseen them really thrive. So sea
lion, California sea lions andelephant seals, they're not
(25:57):
endangered or threatened, andthey're a sign that we can help
save these animals if we takethe right action. Elephant Seals
are one of my favorite animalsin the whole world, and it's
because of their story. Theywere hunted to less than 100
animals. We actually thoughtthat they had gone extinct back
in the 1800s and they found asmall group of them hidden on an
(26:18):
island in Mexico, and realizedthat we had this chance to kind
of bring an animal back from thebrink of extinction. So they
protected the island. We put inplace different rules, and the
elephant seals now went from 100animals to around 175,000 so
we've got this ability to helpsave species. Same thing with
the sea lions. So those animalsare sentinels for the sea
(26:40):
because we're seeing them sofrequently as well, they give us
lots of clues. There are othertypes of seals and sea lions
that aren't so lucky. They areon the endangered species list.
One that we work with at theMarine Mammal Center is the
Hawaiian monk seal, as the namesays, they're only found out in
Hawaii. They're the only seal orsea lion that you'll find in
(27:01):
warm water, so they like figuredit out, but their numbers are
only around 1,600 and thatnumber has been growing with
protection over the last fewyears, but every single one of
those is really important, andthat's why the Marine Mammal
Center has a hospital out inHawaii. We work with a lot of
different groups to help givethem the second chance, and it's
(27:22):
a sign that conservation andrehabilitation can make a really
big difference.
Jane (27:26):
Thanks to Adam Ratner and the Marine Mammal Center for
helping us learn about seals andsea lions. That's it for this
episode, but we have a bonusepisode coming up all about
walruses. Remember walruses,those funky cousins of seals and
sea lions with their big tusksand mustaches? We'll learn all
about them in a bonus episode inone week. Now, if you have a
(27:48):
question about anything, have anadult record you asking it. It's
easy to do on a smartphone usingan app like voice memos, then
have your adult email yourquestion file to
questions@butwhykids.org ourshow is produced by Melody
Bodette, Sarah Baik and me, JaneLindholm at Vermont Public, and
were distributed by PRX. Ourvideo producer is Joey Palumbo.
(28:10):
Check out our YouTube series,But Why? Bites! We put out a
short, bite-sized video episodeevery other Friday. Our theme
music is by Luke Reynolds, andif you like, But Why? please
like and comment wherever youlisten and share us with your
friends. We'll be back in oneweek with an all new bonus
episode. Until then, stay curious.
Music.
Jane (00:20):
This is But Why
Vermont Public. I'm JaneLindholm. On this show, we take
questions from curious kids justlike you, and we find answers.
When I was little, I wanted tobe a marine biologist. I wanted
to learn all about the animalsthat live in the ocean. And I
know I'm not the only onefascinated by marine animals
(00:42):
because we get lots of questionsabout them. We've done episodes
about fish and jellyfish andwhales and sharks and lobsters
and snails, and we've writtenabout even more marine wildlife
in our book, "Do Fish BreatheUnderwater?" But we've never
done a podcast episode aboutpinnipeds. Do you know what a
(01:02):
pinniped is? Don't worry,neither did I. Their name means
fin-footed, and they haveflippers for both front and back
legs. They're all meat eaters.They're mammals. They live in
the ocean, but they come on landto rest and to have their
babies, and some of them barkalmost like dogs. Maybe, you
guessed it, but pinnipeds areseals, sea lions and walruses.
(01:28):
In today's episode, we're goingto talk about the first two, and
next week we'll release a bonusepisode just about walruses. To
make this episode one of ourproducers, Sarah, traveled to a
research and rescue center inSausalito, California, and
there, Sarah found someone whoactually did become a marine
biologist, unlike me.
Adam Ratner (01:50):
My name is Adam Ratner, and I'm the director of
conservation engagement at theMarine Mammal Center. I study
seals and sea lions. I help toget them better and healthy if
they're sick, and then what welearn from them, I share those
stories so that people allaround the world know how they
can help give seals and sealions and other marine mammals a
(02:11):
second chance at life in ahealthy ocean.
Jane (02:13):
So tell me a little bit about the center and how you do
this work. What kind of facilitydo you have, and what are we
hearing at the center now?
Unknown (02:22):
The Marine Mammal Center is the world's largest
marine mammal hospital, so werescue, rehabilitate and release
sick and injured marine mammalsfrom up and down around 600
miles of California coast. We'llget the animals better, get them
back out into the wild, andwhile they're in our care at the
hospital, we're learning aboutthem, figuring out what's going
on out in the ocean, and thenbeing able to teach folks around
(02:44):
ways that we can all take actionto create a healthy ocean for
marine mammals and people alike.Right now, we've got just under
50 patients that we're takingcare of, and you're hearing some
of the baby elephant seals thatare at the hospital. These
animals are around two to fourmonths old. They've been
separated from their mom early,and are just really, really
skinny, and they make this kindof weird cackling sound, kind of
(03:07):
like an evil chicken, and that'swhat's happening in the
background, and they've becomereally famous for it as well.
Jane (03:13):
Sea lions are among the animals movie makers used as
models for the fictionalcreatures you can see on screen
in Jurassic Park, Lord of theRings and How to Train Your
Dragon. Listen closely, if youwatch any of those movies and
see if the velociraptors, orcsand baby dragons sound anything
like what you're hearing in thebackground at the Marine Mammal
(03:35):
Center. But of course, thebabies Adam takes care of aren't
evil, even if he says they dosound like evil chickens. They
make those sounds becausethey're trying to get the
attention of their parents, orin this case, they're human
caretakers.
Unknown (03:50):
Correct. Yeah. So elephant seals, particularly the
babies, they have a lot to talkabout. Mom and babies certainly
know each other's voice. Itmakes sense to all of them. From
our perspective, it's always alittle hard to know what they're
trying to say. Sometimes itmight be them saying that
they're hungry. Sometimes itcould be saying, hey, give me a
little bit of space. If one getstoo close to them, they are also
(04:13):
babies. So I think sometimesthey're just saying, like, hey,
look at me. Look at me. I'm overhere. Look at me. Look at me. A
little bit of a mix of all ofthem, to be honest.
Jane (04:22):
Why do you have so many what is happening that so many
of them are getting separatedfrom their mothers?
Unknown (04:27):
So each year, we tend to see a lot of these baby
elephant seals coming into thehospital in the springtime, and
that's because they're born inthe winter, basically December
through February. Andunfortunately, these baby
elephant seals can get separatedfrom their moms, things like big
storms can separate them, or thebabies can struggle to find food
on their own. So what happensis, starting in around February
(04:49):
through April, we see a lot ofthese really, really skinny
elephant seals coming up ontothe beaches, sick and starving.
Luckily, people, familieswalking along the beach see
these animals, they get on thephone, they call the Marine
Mammal Center, and we can bringthem into our hospital and get
them better. They are justreally, really underweight. So a
baby elephant seal, the momentthey're born, they're already
(05:12):
about the size of a thirdgrader. They weigh 75 pounds.
Jane (05:15):
Wow.
Adam Ratner (05:16):
By the time they turn one month old, they should
weigh 300 pounds. So these aremassive babies. The elephant
seals we have right now arearound two to four months old,
but instead of being 300 pounds,they only weigh around 75 so
they're just skin and bonesstruggling to find food. They
might not even know how to eatfish yet, so our team of
(05:37):
veterinarians and volunteers areteaching them how to eat fish,
plumping them up, getting themreally fat, and making sure that
they're going to be able to goback out to the wild soon.
Jane (05:47):
In the wild, how long would an elephant seal pups, how
long would one live with itsmother?
Adam Ratner (05:51):
So it's a really short period of time with mom.
So elephant seals actually spendonly one month with their mom.
That's it.
Jane (05:58):
Wow.
Adam Ratner (05:58):
All they do is they sit side by side with them up on
the beach, and they drink theirmom's milk. And every day they
drink their mom's milk, they'regonna gain eight pounds. So they
get super fat in this one month,and then mom takes off and
doesn't come back. And the pupsup on the beach, never having
been in the water before, so itdoesn't know how to swim. It's
never seen a fish, it's nevereaten anything, and they have to
(06:22):
learn it all by themselves. Andwhat's amazing is that they do.
They use a lot of that 300pounds, those fat reserves, to
give them the time that theyneed to kind of practice and
learn, and are able, withinaround a month to two months, to
be able to head out into theocean on their own. The problem
that we see with our animals is,if they don't get to that 300
pounds, they don't have all thatfat. There was reserves to give
(06:44):
them the time. So they're reallystruggling to just simply
survive, and they don't havethat time to kind of learn and
spend time in school, if youwill, in that kind of right
mental space.
Jane (06:54):
So how do you at the center make sure that you're
teaching them how to do thethings they need to do in the
wild when they're not in thewild and they're actually
interacting with humans.
Adam Ratner (07:04):
So it's a really tough balance here at the
hospital, because we don't wantany of these animals getting
used to people. So all the workthat we're doing is trying to
keep them wild. So when it comesto swimming, we're just giving
them access to the water. Wehave different pens and pools
that are different depths. Sothey can just kind of get into
it a little bit and feel wet.They can dive down real deep.
(07:25):
When it comes to food, we makethem a delicious fish smoothie
that we can pump directly intotheir bodies. And then once
they're able to start eatingfish, they all go to what we
call fish school. So we take afish, we put it on a string, and
from a distance, we drag thatfish around the pool. And over
time, the elephant seals getcurious, just like babies. They
(07:47):
see this kind of shiny thingmoving, and they want to explore
it, so they touch it with theirmouth. They might put it in
their mouth. Then all of asudden, they realize fish is
delicious, and they are willingto start chasing after it. And
we can just throw the fish intothe pool, let the animals fight
over it, and that's when we knowthey've graduated from fish
school and are on their wayready for release.
Jane (08:07):
So only a little bit different from how we humans eat
in our own families.
Adam Ratner (08:11):
Exactly.
Jane (08:12):
While we're talking about these elephant seals, can I ask
you a few of the questions thatkids have sent us about seals
more generally?
Adam Ratner (08:19):
Please.
Rowan (08:21):
My name is Rowan. I'm six years old, and I live in North
Carolina. Why do seals bark?
Unknown (08:28):
Seals and sea lions all have different sounds that they
make, and with sea lions, thoseare the ones that bark a little
bit more, kind of like a dog.Seals, like the elephant seals,
have this cackling sound. Harborseals have this more kind of
like ma, ma call that they make.So just like with people, every
(08:49):
type of animal has a differentvoice, and it's how they talk to
each other. They definitely knowwhat they're saying. Moms and
babies know each other's voices,just like if you're at the
grocery store with your mom, andyou turn around and you realize
that you don't know where yourmom is right now. You can just
scream, Hey, Mom, where are you?And mom knows exactly your
voice. And you reunite at thecereal aisle. Same thing happens
(09:12):
with these elephant seals out onthe beach. So it's how they talk
to each other and communicate.
Lucy (09:16):
My name is Lucy. I live in Columbia, South Carolina, and I
want to know why are seals gray?
Unknown (09:24):
So seals and sea lions can be actually all different
types of colors. So with theelephant seals, for example,
that we have at the hospital,they're born with a black fur.
So that first one month, they'vegot this thick black fur. And
that's actually going to helpkeep them warm, because you
think about like wearing a blackT shirt outside on a sunny day.
It absorbs all that sun. Ithelps those elephant seals. When
(09:46):
they turn one month old, theyget rid of the black fur, and
they get a gray fur or a silverfur. And other seals and sea
lions have different things aswell. So harbor seals are
actually spotted. They're one ofthe only spotted seals or sea
lions you'll find in the UnitedStates. So each one's a little
bit different. Gray, just interms of all different kind of
animals in the wild, helps youblend in in the water a little
(10:08):
bit. So if you're kind of at thesurface, you can blend in a
little bit with the silhouetteof the sun or the darkness of
the ocean below you. So it's oneway to maybe hide from other
animals in the ocean if you'regray.
Maisie (10:21):
You've mentioned harbor seals a couple of times, and
Maisie has a question aboutthose seals in particular.
I'm five years old. And I livein Sacramento, California and I
want to know why harbor sealshave to live in the snow?
Jane (10:35):
Why do harbor seals live in the snow?
Unknown (10:37):
So harbor seals you can find in a lot of different parts
of the world. So some of themlive up in the Arctic area where
it is snowing. Others actuallylive in California. So here at
the hospital right now, we'vegot five baby harbor seals that
we're taking care of. So Ialways like to think about with
the harbor seals the same waywith people. Sometimes some just
(10:57):
like different climates. So somepeople like living in Maine and
Vermont, where it's really,really cold. I'm not that
person. I like to be out inCalifornia, where it's a little
bit warmer. So you've gotdifferent populations. They
don't necessarily swim that bigdistance. They have kind of
their home area they likespending time in, but they're
built for it. The ones that livein the cold where the snow,
(11:18):
they're a little bit bigger, alittle bit fattier, and they've
got that blubber to keep themwarm, compared to some of the
ones that are in California,where it's a little bit warmer.
Jane (11:26):
Tell us a little bit more about blubber, because not only
is blubber an amazingly fun wordto say, it's also really
important to these marineanimals, especially ones that
live in cold water.
Adam Ratner (11:36):
Exactly, blubber is fat. It's a very fun word for
fat and seals and sea lions andwhales and dolphins are very
fat, so it's what's going tohelp them stay warm in this
really, really cold water,because they're mammals just
like us. If you stand a seal ora sea lion up against you, they
have all the same bones. Theyhave all the same organs in all
(11:57):
the same places. So blubber iswhat we call an adaptation. It's
going to allow them to live inthis different environment than
what people live in.
Jane (12:05):
How many different kinds of seals are there?
Unknown (12:07):
There are so many different types of seals. I
think there are over 30different types of seals and sea
lions, so pinnipeds, theseflipper -footed animals.
Jane (12:18):
That's another amazing word, and I'm really glad you
said it Adam, because I want toknow more about what a pinniped
is. I love saying that word.
Adam Ratner (12:26):
Yeah, so if you break the word down, so the end
part, ped, you might think ofthat in other words that we use
every single day. So pedal orpedestrian or pedometer, it
means foot. Pinna means flipperor feather. So these are
flipper-footed mammals. So it'sseals sea lions, and then the
(12:47):
walrus also fits into thatgroup. They're kind of like the
one man out one of these thingsdoesn't look like the others is
the walrus within the pinnipeds.
Jane (12:56):
Walruses have flippers, just like seals and sea lions,
but they look pretty differentfrom the other two pinnipeds.
For starters, walruses have twobig tusks and a mustache, and
there are no walruses at theMarine Mammal Center. That's
because walruses live up in theArctic. We're going to get to
walruses next week in our bonusepisode, but coming up, we're
(13:18):
going to learn about sea lions,and we'll take a side trip to a
very special place famous as ahangout for them. Stay tuned.
This is But Why (13:27):
a Podcast for Curious Kids? I'm Jane Lindholm,
today we're learning aboutpinnipeds, flipper-footed marine
mammals. Those are sea lions ata place called Pier 39 part of
the Fisherman's Wharf area inSan Francisco, California. Lots
(13:48):
of sea lions come and hang outon the boat docks at Pier 39
they play with each other, butmostly they just seem to nap.
Tourists go to visit thembecause it's so fun to be able
to see these huge animals upclose. Producer Sarah went to
Pier 39 but instead ofinterviewing the sea lions, she
talked with some of the kids whowere watching them. And sure
(14:10):
enough, those kids had lots ofquestions.
My name is Um I'm 10 years old.I'm visiting from Fresno,
California in from the CentralValley. Why are there so many
sea lions in Pier 39?
I asked our guest for thisepisode, Adam Ratner, a marine
biologist at the Marine MammalCenter, why there are so many
(14:31):
sea lions at Pier 39.
Adam Ratner (14:33):
Basically, over 30 years ago, some sea lions found
these open docks that no one wasusing. They had just been doing
construction on them, and theboats hadn't come back, and they
realized that this was anawesome place to come and just
rest and hang out. So in thevery first year, in 1989 there
were a handful of sea lions thatshowed up. No one really did
(14:54):
anything. They just let them bethere, and they told all their
friends. And then pretty soon,hundreds ofsSea lions started
showing up there, and now,depending on the time of year,
you might show up to Pier 39 andwe saw over 1,500 California sea
lions at Pier 39 last year onone day. So it's this huge
(15:14):
hangout spot, basically, for sealions. And the reason why we
think they like Pier 39 the bestis because it's a safe place.
It's away from any predators.People have kind of given them
these docks so they don't haveto worry about people, kind of
interrupting them and botheringthem. And the same reason why
people are there, there's a lotof good fish and food in the
bay, so you've got this kind ofresting spot. I think about it
(15:38):
as almost like as a gas stationor a rest up on the highway when
you're on a big road trip up anddown the California coast.
That's what the sea lions aredoing. And this is a place to
kind of rest, grab a little bitof food, relax for a few days
before you head either down toSouthern California to hang out
with all the females, or up tokind of the Northern California,
(15:59):
Vancouver, British Columbiaarea, where maybe you're going
to your favorite restaurant forfood.
Jane (16:04):
And they don't mind that so many people like to watch
them.
Unknown (16:07):
They don't. They seem to kind of ignore us. What's
really great is there is aseparation, so you're not able
to touch them. It's against thelaw of feed them or throw
anything towards them. So we canbe close enough that we can see
them really well. But they dohave their space, which is
really important, and we've seenif people do get close, we
actually scare them away. Soit's a sign that if we can view
(16:30):
wildlife responsibly and safely,always keep our distance, use
your zoom on your camera ratherthan get too close, be really
quiet around them. We have thisreally amazing opportunity to
see wildlife up close and enjoywhat's in our own backyard.
Jane (16:45):
Even if you don't live anywhere near San Francisco, you
can watch a live video stream ofthe sea lions at the pier. The
website is pier 39.com/sealions.We'll put that in our show notes
too. But if you're looking at abig four flippered animals
swimming through the water, andyou're not on that live stream.
How do you know if it's a sealor a sea lion?
Kiara (17:08):
My name is Kiara. I am from Dublin, California, and I'm
nine years old. What is thedifference between sea lions and
seals?
Adam Ratner (17:20):
So sea lions, in my mind, are like lions. So lions
Olivia (17:22):
My name is Olivia. I mean, eight. Why do sea lions
have ear flaps, just like wehave that you can see. Lions
have these big front paws thatthey can walk around on, and
lions are brown. Sea lions arelike lions. They have all those
same features. Seals, if youwant a way to remember them, are
kind of more like sausages. Sosausages don't have any ears
that you can see. Seals willjust have little tiny holes in
(17:45):
their head. They don't havethese big flippers. They kind of
scoot around on their bellieslike big caterpillars or worms.
And then seals are either goingto be kind of this one grayish
or brown color, or they could bespotted, kind of like how
sausages usually look. So Ialways remember sea lions are
like lions. Seals are like sausages.
(18:13):
swim?
Jane (18:15):
Do all pinnipeds swim?
Adam Ratner (18:16):
Yes, so all pinnipeds swim, and they're
built different ways to swim. Sosea lions have these really big
front flippers. They can usethem, kind of like our arms. And
they're really, really fastswimmers. So they can swim 25
miles an hour, which is fivetimes faster than the fastest
human swimmer. So they'rereally, really quick and agile.
(18:38):
And they can also come up ontoland. They jump up onto docks,
like at Pier 39. Seals are alsoreally good swimmers, but
they're gonna use their backflippers instead, and those
tiny, short, front flippers arekind of like the steering wheel.
It's gonna help them kind ofjust make little turns more than
anything else.
Tej (18:55):
My name is Tej, T- E- J. [sea lion noises] Why do they
need to eat fish?
Jane (19:06):
That really sounded just like the sea lions and Maggie
from San Francisco has the samequestion.
Maggie (19:13):
Why does sea lions eat fish?
Adam Ratner (19:16):
So fish is delicious. Fish is super healthy
for them. It gives them all thenutrients they need. Obviously,
there's a fair amount of fishout there for these animals to
eat. Seals and sea lions are toppredators, so they eat a lot of
different things. Here at thehospital, we feed them herring,
which is a relatively smallfish, but out in the wild, a sea
(19:37):
lion or an elephant seal couldeat something like stingray, it
could eat actually small sharks,octopus. So these animals do eat
a lot of different types ofthings, but fish is just gonna
be one of the things that'smaybe a little bit easier to
catch and gives you all thoseyummy nutrients that you need to
grow big and strong.
Avery (19:58):
My name is Avery. I'm nine years old, and I'm from
Indiana, and my question is, howdo we tell the females from the
males?
Adam Ratner (20:06):
Sea lions, there are two different types that we
find in the United States, sothe stellar sea lion and the
California sea lion. And stellarsea lions are really why sea
lions were called lions. Sostellar sea lions are found up
in Alaska and Washington state,and they are huge. The boys get
up to be over 2,000 pounds, andthey actually do develop this
(20:28):
thick mane around their neck,and it's only the boys that get
that. And the females, thegirls, they don't get that. It's
a difference between the boysand the girls, and it allows the
boys to show that they are afull grown adult kind of, hey,
look at me. Look how big I am.Look at my beautiful mane. And
it's a way for them to get maybegirlfriends out on those
(20:48):
beaches. With the California sealions, It's a little bit
different. The boys are stillmuch bigger. So boys get to
around 750 pounds. The girlsonly around 250 so the boys are
three times the size.
Jane (21:02):
Yeah, that's a big difference.
Adam Ratner (21:03):
Yeah, and they don't get a mane. But the male
sea lions, when they turn aroundfive years old, they actually
develop a bump on the top oftheir head. It's what we call a
sagittal crest, and what it kindof looks like is a big mohawk as
they get older. And it's thesame way. It's the way for the
male sea lions to show off toall the females, saying, Hey,
look at my big mohawk. I'm thebiggest, strongest male out
(21:26):
here.
Braden (21:27):
I'm Braden. I'm 12 years old, and I'm from Plainfield,
Indiana. Why do sea lions fighteach other?
Adam Ratner (21:34):
They put on a good show at Pier 39 certainly. So
all those sea lions at Pier 39again, you might have 50 of them
there at one time, or you couldhave over 1,000 of them at one
time, and almost all of them areactually males. And it's because
the sea lions migrate. They gofrom Southern California all the
way up to around Washingtonstate. But the females stay
(21:57):
closer to Southern California,and it's the males that go up
and down the California coastthe most. So all those males at
Pier 39 are hanging out. They'reresting either on their way up
to their favorite restaurant oron their way down to the
breeding grounds, where all thefemales are. So one of the
things that we tend to see isall these males are actually
(22:18):
practicing their fightingbecause when they go down to
Southern California, they kindof have to fight with each other
to get the girlfriends. This isa place for them to do that. It
could also be that they justhave their favorite spot on the
dock and they don't want to bebothered, so they're going to
fight for that really sunny spotaway from some of the other
animals. But it's never reallyto hurt the animals. It's to
(22:41):
show that they're the biggest,they're the strongest, and
that's going to help them whenit comes time to be around the
girlfriends.
Jane (22:48):
As humans, we have more in common with seals and sea lions
than you might think. Wementioned that they're mammals,
and so are we. Mammals give livebirth to their babies and feed
them milk. That's what seals andsea lions do. They don't lay
eggs.
Adam Ratner (23:04):
So what we're going to see with seals and sea lions
when it's time to have theirbabies. For the sea lions,
they're going to go all down toSouthern California, and they're
going to go to these big beachesdown at the Channel Islands, and
they're going to have,typically, one baby at a time.
We almost never see twins, andwe don't really see siblings the
(23:24):
same year type of thing. So onebaby at a time, the sea lions,
they spend six to nine monthswith their mom, and they're
gonna learn to swim with theirmom, and they're gonna go find
food with their mom, and then ataround nine months old, they're
out on their own, and that'swhen they might start swimming
up and down the Californiacoast. With the elephant seals,
we talked about this one alittle bit earlier, born in the
(23:45):
winter time, and the baby onlyspends one month with mom, and
they just get really, reallyfat. They drink all their mom's
milk, and then they have tolearn everything else on their
own. So it is different thanpeople, but it's always a live
birth with a baby, and the momwill spend a little bit of time
with them, getting them readyfor life on their own. It's so
(24:05):
fascinating as well to think youlook at these animals that look
so different, like a sea lion,like a walrus, like an elephant
seal, but you realize how muchlike humans they are. They're
all mammals. So we all breathethe same air, we eat the same
food. We swim in the same areas,but they're, they're different
at the same time.
Jane (24:26):
And the really cool thing is, by studying seals and sea
lions, researchers not onlylearn new things about these
animals, but they can also learnimportant things about our
oceans and even human health.
Adam Ratner (24:38):
Oh so much so seals and sea lions because they're
they're like people, they'remammals. We call them sentinels
of the sea, or ecosystemindicators. So they tell us
about the health of the ocean.They eat the same food that we
do, they swim in the same waterthat we do. They breathe the
same air that we do. So here atthe hospital, the issues we see
(24:58):
seals and sea lions coming inwith give us signs of, what are
the impacts of climate change,or what are the impacts of
toxins and poisons that are inthe water? What's happening to
the fish right off our coast isthe fish healthy? Is the fish
plentiful? So so many thingswhere we can get these animals
better at the hospital, but itactually helps us do better
(25:19):
human medicine. We use the sametreatments that you might get at
a human hospital, and we'veactually discovered new
treatments here at the hospitalon animals that people might get
at the hospital if they getsick.
Jane (25:31):
So how are sea lions doing generally? What are we seeing in
their populations? So
Adam Ratner (25:37):
Luckily, California sea lions and elephant seals,
their populations have beengrowing. They're really success
stories. These animals used tobe hunted and the numbers were
really low, but with protectionsfor the past 50 years the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, we'veseen them really thrive. So sea
lion, California sea lions andelephant seals, they're not
(25:57):
endangered or threatened, andthey're a sign that we can help
save these animals if we takethe right action. Elephant Seals
are one of my favorite animalsin the whole world, and it's
because of their story. Theywere hunted to less than 100
animals. We actually thoughtthat they had gone extinct back
in the 1800s and they found asmall group of them hidden on an
(26:18):
island in Mexico, and realizedthat we had this chance to kind
of bring an animal back from thebrink of extinction. So they
protected the island. We put inplace different rules, and the
elephant seals now went from 100animals to around 175,000 so
we've got this ability to helpsave species. Same thing with
the sea lions. So those animalsare sentinels for the sea
(26:40):
because we're seeing them sofrequently as well, they give us
lots of clues. There are othertypes of seals and sea lions
that aren't so lucky. They areon the endangered species list.
One that we work with at theMarine Mammal Center is the
Hawaiian monk seal, as the namesays, they're only found out in
Hawaii. They're the only seal orsea lion that you'll find in
(27:01):
warm water, so they like figuredit out, but their numbers are
only around 1,600 and thatnumber has been growing with
protection over the last fewyears, but every single one of
those is really important, andthat's why the Marine Mammal
Center has a hospital out inHawaii. We work with a lot of
different groups to help givethem the second chance, and it's
(27:22):
a sign that conservation andrehabilitation can make a really
big difference.
Jane (27:26):
Thanks to Adam Ratner and the Marine Mammal Center for
helping us learn about seals andsea lions. That's it for this
episode, but we have a bonusepisode coming up all about
walruses. Remember walruses,those funky cousins of seals and
sea lions with their big tusksand mustaches? We'll learn all
about them in a bonus episode inone week. Now, if you have a
(27:48):
question about anything, have anadult record you asking it. It's
easy to do on a smartphone usingan app like voice memos, then
have your adult email yourquestion file to
questions@butwhykids.org ourshow is produced by Melody
Bodette, Sarah Baik and me, JaneLindholm at Vermont Public, and
were distributed by PRX. Ourvideo producer is Joey Palumbo.
(28:10):
Check out our YouTube series,But Why? Bites! We put out a
short, bite-sized video episodeevery other Friday. Our theme
music is by Luke Reynolds, andif you like, But Why? please
like and comment wherever youlisten and share us with your
friends. We'll be back in oneweek with an all new bonus
episode. Until then, stay curious.
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