Yoshiko Cowell writes;
I went to the beach to film the Sea Lion’s again with two other filmmaking students. We found Sea Lion pups playing in pools of water and the tide was out. It had been hailing and rainy weather the day before and there was a lack of adult Sea Lion’s around. Maybe they don’t like being on land when it’s hailing…..
Apparently these pups, that we saw, have moved from where their mother’s have left them. It is probably about 1km in distance and how they know these pools exist is a mystery. Maybe while their mother’s away, they explore their environment extensively. Some pups were having fun playing in the pools while others slept, one pup was even snoring. The pups in and around the pools played with any objects they could find such a seaweed and sticks. One pup approached us very fast so I only had time to take the camera with me. The pup was curious about the tripod I had left and started to mouth it. Exploring the tripod with its mouth just as any young animal would do but was alot gentler than my young dog would be. After it was satisfied of the “taste” then it moved back to the pool. I got the tripod back and was surprised to see not a scratch or bite mark on it!
We met Amelie Auge on the beach and she weighed one of the pups. The pups are now 4 to 5 months old and this pup weighed about 30kgs.
Later we saw a pup playing by itself in the pool and found that it had a cockle clamped onto its whisker. It eventually flicked the cockle off after alot of tossing and turning in the pool.

 

Some of the pups have now completed their moult whilst others are still going through it. See the photo, how patchy the pup looks. The brown is the old fur and the pup is turning into a grey-silver-whitish colour.

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