July 2007
Longleat's water babies welcome wet weather
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California sea lion pups |
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The wettest June on record has done nothing to dampen the spirits of Longleat’s two newest arrivals.
The summer may have been a washout so far for the rest of us but for a pair of newborn California sea lion pups the general consensus seems to be the wetter the better.
The pups, which weigh around 10 kg at birth, spend most of the time either fully or partly submerged in the Wiltshire Safari Park’s giant Half Mile Lake.
Keeper Mark Tye said: “The rain may be the main topic of conversation for the rest of us at the moment but the sea lions barely even notice.
“Despite all the additional rainwater the lakes at Longleat should never actually flood as they are controlled by an automated valve which, in periods of high rain, is backed up by a giant plug – not that dissimilar to your or my bathtubs.
“The heavy downpours however are providing the sea lion pups with some additional excitement, I suppose to them it must seem like a giant shower!” he added.
The pups’ mums Jo-Jo,
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Jo-Jo (9) and Sealia (14) were born at Longleat |
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nine, and Sealia, 14, were themselves born at Longleat and form part of the Safari Park’s hugely successful sea lion breeding programme.
Sea lions were first introduced into Half Mile Lake in the late 1960s and are believed to be the one of the few colonies of Californian sea lions anywhere in the world to live in freshwater.
Keepers supplement their fish diet - each sea lion eats around three-and-a-half kilos of mackerel a day - with salt tablets to mimic a seawater habitat.
In the wild the Californian sea lions main predator is the killer whale however at Longleat their biggest threat comes in the shape of hungry seagulls trying to steal their fish.
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BBC
Animal Park
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