Wednesday 14 April 2010

Ball and chain

This guy seemed to be very proud (and noisy) about his new-found buoy in Monterey Harbor. Maybe he was just relieved to get out of the water though, as the orcas were vacationing in the bay. Just how he managed to get up there, however, is a bit of a mystery to me.

6 comments:

Big Island Papa said...

Aloha Tom,
You will be surprised, I have seen seals jump out of the water quite high...I suspect he jumped up there.

Talk to you soon...Terry

Keera Ann Fox said...

LOL! I've got Elton John's "Ball and Chain" playing right now!

California sea lions are quite agile compared to harbor seals so they are able to get up onto surfaces that thwart other seals.

Tom said...

Even if he jumped up there, wouldn't the buoy move around and dump him back in the water?

I know he had to get up there somehow and jumping seems the most reasonable explanation, but it looks very difficult to me!

Maybe that's why he's so proud!

Tom

Keera Ann Fox said...

Those buoys don't move around enough to thwart a sea lion.

Tom said...

That's a fair enough observation, Keera. I have to admit that I've never jumped onto one of those buoys so I don't have a good reference point!

Tom

Keera Ann Fox said...

I learned about harbor seals vs. sea lions during my cruise to Alaska (where I got the pictures of the "hunchbacks" ;-) ). We were told that sea lions are able to manipulate their lower body in such a way that they can climb onto surfaces whereas harbor seals are limited to jumping onto surfaces. This also explains why sea lions are used as circus animals (where they also balance on and with large balls).