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Sea Lions Galore!
XINHUA/SHUTTERSTOCK
SO MANY SEA LIONS: One week in May, more than 2,000 sea lions were observed resting on Pier 39 in San Francisco.
Every spring, sea lions visit Fisherman’s Wharf—a waterfront shopping area in San Francisco, California. The marine animals stop to rest on a dock called Pier 39 as they migrate, or travel to breeding grounds farther down the coast. The barking sea lions are a big tourist attraction . . . especially this past year. That’s because a record-breaking 2,000 of them gathered on the pier to sunbathe! Usually there are only around 150 to 600 of these animals.
Scientists think food, specifically a large school of anchovies, lured a greater number of sea lions to San Francisco Bay. “Sea lions go to Pier 39 for the same reason people do: to relax, hang out, and chow down,” says Adam Ratner of California’s Marine Mammal Center.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
The California sea lion population in the United States has increased since the early 1970s. This graph shows the number of California sea lion babies, or pups, born each year from 1975 to 2014. About how many more pups were born in 2000 than in 1998?
*MOST RECENT DATA AVAILABLE; SOURCE: JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT (2018)