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Our pinniped family continues to grow! We welcomed the birth of a newborn California sea lion pup on July 10^th at 10:49 am. The young female pup, Reese, was born to first time mother Geneva and we are ecstatic to report that mother and pup are doing extremely well!

Now 5 days old, Reese spends her days exploring her new surroundings and bonding with Geneva. Sea lions are marine mammals, meaning they give live births and they nurse from their mothers. As a result of her birth, Reese has had an umbilical cord, a means of blood flow between mother and pup before birth, hanging from her stomach. Today the cord has detached itself by naturally drying out, indicating a healthy progression to our animal care staff.

Sea lion pups are extremely dependent on their mothers, not only for protection, but also as a food source. Pups will nurse milk from their mothers for the first 6-12 months of life before beginning to eat fish. We are glad to see Reese spends a vast majority of her day nursing. At this time, she is gaining ½ lb each day and already weighs a hefty 15 lbs! She won’t reach her full mature weight of 200 - 225 pounds until she is over 5 years of age.

Geneva has been an excellent mother to Reese so far. Mothers and pups communicate with specialized “pup calls” that are unique to each mother-pup pair. It has been quite noisy at Oceans of Fun lately with lots of bonding communication taking place between the two. When Reese is not being nurtured by her mother, she enjoys crawling on mom and playing with her own front flippers!

Newborn sea lions pups do not know how to swim right away. Though her mother Geneva enjoys many opportunities to go for a swim, Reese stays safe and dry in one of our holding pens for now. Soon, Reese will get their own private baby pool to begin swimming lessons in. This ensures she will have the comfort and strength to swim in our 18-foot deep main environment when the time comes. Seal pups are a bit more independent. They are able to eat fish much earlier in life and they can start swimming almost immediately!

Once pups are eating fish, their formal training can begin. Formal training is a fun and exciting opportunity for seals and sea lions to learn new behaviors alongside their trainers. Until then, Reese is at an informal stage of training. This means she is getting to know their trainers during playtime, meeting new faces and hearing your applause during show time!

Be sure to stop by one of our daily seal and sea lion shows in the next few weeks for a chance to see our newest family member.