The inscrutable smile of the sea-lion – Santa Cruz wharf, May 2014
The California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) is a coastal is a marine mammal native to North America. Although sometimes mistakenly called seals, they differ from seals in a very important way: while seals are ungainly on land, dragging themselves along on their bellies, sea lions have large powerful front flippers and can rotate their hind flippers toward the ground – so they are able to walk on all four limbs on land. This also means they can drag themselves up onto beaches and rocks… and onto the lower reaches of the Sant Cruz wharf south of San Francisco, where I snapped this handsome whiskery specimen.
Saturday Snapshots is a series of non-food photographs published every Saturday on CookSister. Previously featured photographs can be viewed on the Saturday Snapshots archive pages. Many photos featured in Saturday Snapshots are available to buy as high-quality greeting cards or prints in my RedBubble store, or even as high-quality A3-size calendars. If you want a custom calendar with your own selection of photos, starting with any month (not only January), please e-mail me and we can discuss your requirements.