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I haven't posted much in terms of photos lately but finally getting to process some of my Kangaroo Island photos from my last trip. This was taken at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. This beach is in a national park, you need to go on a guided tour to get to the sea lions. This was taken not long before sunset, so the light is very nice. Of all the seals, the Australian Sea Lion has the least amount of blubber, 20% of body weight. That is one of the reasons why they can just come back on land and not have to continuously go to the water to cool down. They also like to cuddle together to keep warm in winter.

Australian Sea Lions are a very beautiful and sociable animal. Once they come on land, they sleep for three days. Then they go back to sea and stay out for three days to feed, back to land to sleep, .... This is one of the reasons the national parks ended up closing the beach. It is very important for the sea lions to get their rest when they are back on land so having a bunch of tourist disturbing them is not ideal. Having controlled access with a guide ensures that people don't get too close and that we don't bother the sea lions.



D200, 70-200, TC1.7, at 250mm, 1/350s, VR on, f5.6, ISO 400, handheld.

cheers,

André

Andre great capture and very informative story on the sea lions. The sleeping face while basking in the last of the suns rays really make this

Lovely capture , so peacefull

hi Andre...that is a great capture.....has the image been cropped at all

Beautiful photo.

thank you for the comments.

Pa, no crop, that is straight out of the camera with a bit of curve adjustment and sharpening. That was probably as close as we got to them. The guide was making sure that we wouldn't get too close to bother them, which is good for the sea lions. If they aren't able to get their proper rest, that means that when they go back out to sea for feeding, they possibly won't be as fast in the water as they should be be. This has two big consequences: they may not be able to get quite as much food as they need and they may not be able to out-swim those big sharks that feed on them!

When on Kangaroo Island, a visit to Seal Bay is a must. Because we were spending a number of days there, we got a park pass. This meant we could visit the seals on a guided tour, as often as we wanted.

Cheers,

André