LIVE SEA LION WEBCAM IN CANADA

More info: The sea lions start to gather at Hanson Island in mid-September to spend time fishing, relaxing and socialising. Hanson Island is an island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, located west of Harbledown Island and south of the Plumper Islands.

Stellers are the largest of all sea lions. When these giants thunder ashore, their favoured beaches, called rookeries, disappear under a mass of sea lion bodies. Young pups are often in danger of being crushed by the throng, unheeded by powerful males with only a single purpose in mind. Bulls must establish and hold a beach territory in order to breed but most do not achieve this until they are nine or ten years old. A mature bull may go without food for 1 to 2 months whilst he defends his territory. Sea lions have a polygynous mating system, in which only a small proportion of the sexually mature males father most of the pups in a given season.

Females sea lions begin to arrive on rookeries in mid-May. They typically birth their first pup at 4 to 6 years of age, usually giving birth to a single pup each year but they may bot pup every year. Pupping occurs from about mid-May to mid-July and peaks in June.