Española Island
It’s October 22, and it is an important date to remember because it is the birth date of many Española sea lions. We saw an unbelievable amount of babies, only hours old, as soon as we landed on Punta Suarez.
I sat on a dark lava boulder and observed. There was a big female communicating with her little one. She looked tired, uncomfortable, still close to a fresh pile of placenta. The pup cried, and trembled. Her rear was bloody and she started heading to the water, thirty yards away, to clean and refresh herself. The baby had no choice than to follow her. Every stone he encountered seemed like an impossible obstacle, the first challenges in this pup’s life. And when the rock was too big to climb, mom looked back, got the baby from its neck, as cats do, and pulled it up through the impediment.
The baby looked anxious. It was as if it expected something, but did not know what to wait for. I guess that for every mammal it must be the same, with conscious or without it, it must be frightening to face a new world, and a whole life ahead, after existing in the warmth and safety of a womb. Big mom remained close by, however the pup was cautious in every step through his flurry and novel universe.
Baby did everything to be in contact with mom. Sometimes it touched the hint flipper, or the back, or the whiskers. He needed to feel Mom, the only familiar creature in his life. They arrived close to the crystalline water of a peaceful bay. Baby instinctively tried to get something from mom, he did not know what. He looked in the wrong places again, the eyes, the front flipper, until he found a nipple. But it was too soon to nurse, Mom needed to get to the water first. So she kept calling, and pulling, and showing the way. Baby followed, complaining and crying, and discovering. A wave crushed at baby’s feet, and he tried to run back up, but Mom caught him from the neck again, and pulled it into the water to receive his very first bath. Baby looked scared, but after the first minutes in this warm fluid, he seemed to enjoy it, and started to paddle with its front flippers, loving the ocean, loving being close to Mom, who had finally cleaned her body, and was now ready to rest. It was hard to bring Baby out of the pool, but he also felt the need of milk, his first meal.
And we were there, watching.
It’s October 22, and it is an important date to remember because it is the birth date of many Española sea lions. We saw an unbelievable amount of babies, only hours old, as soon as we landed on Punta Suarez.
I sat on a dark lava boulder and observed. There was a big female communicating with her little one. She looked tired, uncomfortable, still close to a fresh pile of placenta. The pup cried, and trembled. Her rear was bloody and she started heading to the water, thirty yards away, to clean and refresh herself. The baby had no choice than to follow her. Every stone he encountered seemed like an impossible obstacle, the first challenges in this pup’s life. And when the rock was too big to climb, mom looked back, got the baby from its neck, as cats do, and pulled it up through the impediment.
The baby looked anxious. It was as if it expected something, but did not know what to wait for. I guess that for every mammal it must be the same, with conscious or without it, it must be frightening to face a new world, and a whole life ahead, after existing in the warmth and safety of a womb. Big mom remained close by, however the pup was cautious in every step through his flurry and novel universe.
Baby did everything to be in contact with mom. Sometimes it touched the hint flipper, or the back, or the whiskers. He needed to feel Mom, the only familiar creature in his life. They arrived close to the crystalline water of a peaceful bay. Baby instinctively tried to get something from mom, he did not know what. He looked in the wrong places again, the eyes, the front flipper, until he found a nipple. But it was too soon to nurse, Mom needed to get to the water first. So she kept calling, and pulling, and showing the way. Baby followed, complaining and crying, and discovering. A wave crushed at baby’s feet, and he tried to run back up, but Mom caught him from the neck again, and pulled it into the water to receive his very first bath. Baby looked scared, but after the first minutes in this warm fluid, he seemed to enjoy it, and started to paddle with its front flippers, loving the ocean, loving being close to Mom, who had finally cleaned her body, and was now ready to rest. It was hard to bring Baby out of the pool, but he also felt the need of milk, his first meal.
And we were there, watching.
