California sea lion

Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC

California sea lions are among the most cognitively complex marine mammals and their playful behavior with divers at Los Islotes is genuinely spontaneous rather than conditioned. The colony at Los Islotes is one of the few remaining rookeries in the southern Gulf and pup survival rates are used as an indicator of prey availability in the surrounding waters. Male sea lions establish and vigorously defend territories on the surface rocks during the breeding season; underwater encounters are almost always with juveniles and females.