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Sea lions were a constant presence on all the shorelines we visited. And one evening as we cruised, we saw a school of dolphins jumping and a whale or two.
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Two young male sea lions relax and smoke a cigarette afterwards. Our guide described what they had been doing as "playing". Ecuador is a conservative country, especially back when he was training, and there is a long tradition of scientists ignoring the obvious. What global warming? |
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Baby sea lions garner a terrific "awww" factor. You can also take baby seal hunting tours in Norway. Sea lions are fortunate in this respect, that their pelts are not commercially valuable. Sea lions may also be distinguished from seals in that sea lions have external ears and external testicles. |
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Almost all of the sea lions we saw were California sea lions. But one island we visited, in one particular small area, had a separate species called a fur sea lion. |
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This guy was huge. |
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A sea lion skeleton in the Darwin Center in Puerto Ayora. |
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We never got close to any whales or dolphins. Near Fernandina Island the guides got carried away on a deep water snorkeling expedition, and chased a bunch of dolphins in the panga, in hopes that we could swim with them. This struck me as harassment. If they wanted to swim with us they would. Here's a tiny piece of a whale from the same afternoon. |
