Cheeky Sea Lion Pup Chases Jungle Cruise Boats
22nd July 2011
A cheeky, month-old sea lion pup has amazed its keepers at Longleat after being spotted chasing after boats filled with visitors.
Despite still being dependent on its mother, the tiny pup, who has been named Rene, has been seen regularly swimming alone around the lake as well as following after the Jungle Cruise boats.
Sea lion pups normally spend much of their first few months on land and staying close to mum.
“It’s highly unusual for small pups to leave the safety of their mothers at such an early stage and Rene is certainly not lacking in confidence,” said head of section Mark Tye.
“Her mum Jo-Jo is a very experienced parent; Rene is her sixth pup and she was herself born here at Longleat, so maybe she has passed on some of her confidence to her baby.
“I’ve seen many sea lion pups born here at Longleat over the years and you can already tell that Rene is going to be a real character. We’re all looking forward to see how she develops over the coming months and years,” he added.
Longleat’s sea lions were first introduced into Half Mile Lake in the 1970s and are believed to be the only colony of California 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.
The sea lions share their home with a pair of hippos called Spot and Sonia and Nico the gorilla who lives on an island in the centre of the lake.
Keepers are also celebrating after the arrival of a new zebra foal this month. The tiny Grant’s zebra foal, which was born earlier this month after an 11-month pregnancy, weighed just over 30kgs at birth.
She is the third foal for mum Jinga and keepers are delighted with her progress so far. Grant’s zebra are a subspecies of plains zebra and there are thought to be approximately 300,000 left in the wild.
At Longleat they share their 60-acre East African enclosure with giraffes and ostriches.