Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Sealion or Seal?


California Sea Lion pup, Zalophus californianus. So, how do you tell sea lion from seal? Sea lions have ears and walk on their flippers like awkward feet. Their flippers will angle downwards and support their weight. Seans rear flippers go straight back and their front flippers off to the side. Hence seals tend to undulate along the sand/ground rather than use their flippers for land propuslsion. Oh, and for you snugglers out there, sea lions like to snuggle one atop the other while seals almost always lie alone even in the midst of a colony.

Exercise for tomorrow: just for fun, go out, take a stroll and turn off all the labels and pretend like you're seeing everything for the first time. Touch the leaves and feel their coolness and texture. Feel the roughness of tree bark. Run your bar toes through the grass. Stop and look at the cool colors and shapes of bugs and lizards. Look at leaves and flowers really close and see the amazing structures that make them work. It's really fun to do every now and then just to remind you of the wonderful things around us that we normally zip by and take for granted.

No comments: