Wait… That’s Not a Seal? A Guide to Seals vs. Sea Lions
Today I'm going to do my blog on two of my favorite marine creatures - seals and sea lions. I worked with these guys over the Summer at the zoo so I got a lot of hands-on experience dealing with both. Much like the Sunfish from my previous blog entry, I can also say these guys are complete silly little dorks too. Seals make the most hilarious faces and sea lions have personalities that are as giant as they are. A lot of people confuse them for each other and it's easy to do so, since they are usually housed together at the zoo. Hopefully after this blog you'll be able to identify who is who the next time you see them~!
First off, I'll start with a few differences between seals and sea lions:
- If you see them in a zoo encloser, they are probably swimming. One way to tell who is who is seals swim by using their back flippers in a side to side motion, and sea lions tend to use their large front flippers.
- When you look at their heads, you'll notice that sea lions have visible external ear flaps, whereas a seal just has tiny holes where their ears are.
- Sea lions have much longer necks compared to seals and they often sit upright, and a seal will usually lay flat and scoot around on land.
- Size-wise there is a pretty big difference. Sea lions are up to 10 feet long, weighing up to 1,000 pounds, and seals are around 5-8 feet long and only weigh up to 300 - 400 pounds usually.
- If you see one "barking" and making a lot of loud noises, chances are you're looking at a sea lion as seals tend to be quieter and make softer grunts.
So in summary > If it's screaming at you, has ear flaps, and it's walking on land, you're probably looking at a sea lion, and if it's being quiet like a ninja, earless, and flopping around on land, odds are it's a seal.
Here is a good chart to use when comparing:
And now for a real picture, you can immediately spot some of the differences, noticing the "hole" on the seals head for ears compared to the obvious flapped ears of the sea lion. The flippers also make it very obvious which is which, with the sea lion having those large and outward facing flippers. Also this picture makes it very easy to note the difference in how their necks look, with the sea lions being much longer.
I'll leave you with a few fun facts about seals and sea lions.
- Seals can sleep underwater and can surface for air without waking up.
- Seal pups are born very fluffy with white fur, and later shed it.
- Sea lions are highly intelligent and can solve problems, recognize patterns, learn tricks, and remember commands.
- A seals whiskers are able to detect even the smallest of water movements, allowing it to hunt fish in dark or murky waters.
- Male sea lions are known to be extremely aggressive and get much larger than the female sea lion. During mating season they become extremely territorial.
- A seal can reach speeds of up to 15-20 miles per hour and a sea lion can reach speeds of up to 25.
- Sea lions have been known to dive as deep as 600 feet.
- Seal moms and pups find each other in seal colonies through sound alone and are able to identify each other's individual "voices".
I hope you enjoyed this, and I'll see you tomorrow with more fish 
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