Are they seals or sea lions? How to tell the difference

Look at the ears. Sea lions have small, pointed earflaps. Seals don't. Seals have only a small opening on each side of the head. In Baja we see sea lions, the females with their bulls and pups, basking in the sun on the rocks at Islas Los Islotes. A sea lion is equipped to navigate steep, rocky shores. It rotates its flippers underneath its body and clambers about on all four flippers. A seal can't maneuver on all fours because it's hind flippers don't rotate under the body. On occasion we do see elephant seals on shore. They move by undulating on their bellies, bouncing along with their pectoral flippers held out sideways and their hind flippers trailing behind them. A sea lion's pectoral flippers are long and winglike, while a seal's pectoral flippers are short, with five distinct claws.

Islas Los Islotes is often referred to as the Sea Lion Rookery. Rookery means breeding ground. During mating season and late summer, the bulls are highly protective of the females and pups. They keep them on the rocks and bark at divers and snorkelers to keep us at a distance. But in late September when we arrived, the season was past and the sea lions played. Some invited tickling and petting. Some stopped mid-water to pose. Some were mischievous and pecked at a BC or played tug of war with a fin. We loved it so much, we went back again and again.