page_title: California sea lion
section_title: Intelligence and trainability
hierarchical_section_title: California sea lion / Intelligence and trainability
caption_attribution_description: English: A California sea lion at Central Park Zoo. It has climbed to the edge of its tank awaiting feeding.
context_page_description: The California sea lion is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lion. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of California. California sea lions are sexually dimorphic; males are larger than females, and have a thicker neck, and protruding sagittal crest. They mainly haul-out on sandy or rocky beaches, but they also frequent manmade environments such as marinas and wharves. Sea lions feed on a number of species of fish and squid, and are preyed on by killer whales and great white sharks.
  California sea lions have a polygynous breeding pattern. From May to August, males establish territories and try to attract females with which to mate. Females are free to move in between territories, and are not coerced by males. Mothers nurse their pups in between foraging trips. Sea lions communicate with numerous vocalizations, notably with barks and mother-pup contact calls. Outside their breeding season, sea lions spend much of their time at sea, but they come to shore to molt.
context_section_description: Marine biologist Ronald J. Schusterman and his research associates have studied sea lions' cognitive ability. They have discovered that sea lions are able to recognize relationships between stimuli based on similar functions or connections made with their peers, rather than only the stimuli's common features. Sea lions have demonstrated the ability to understand simple syntax and commands when taught an artificial sign language. However, the sea lions rarely used the signs semantically or logically. In 2011, a California sea lion named Ronan was recorded bobbing her head in synchronization to musical rhythms.
  This "rhythmic entrainment" was previously seen only in humans, parrots and other birds possessing vocal mimicry.
  Because of their intelligence and trainability, California sea lions have been used by circuses and marine mammal parks to perform various tricks such as throwing and catching balls on their noses, running up ladders, or honking horns in a musical fashion. Trainers reward their animals with fish, which motivates them to perform. For ball balancing, trainers toss a ball at a sea lion so it may accidentally balance it or hold the ball on its nose, thereby gaining an understanding of what to do. A sea lion may go through a year of training before performing a behavior for the public. However, its memory allows it to perform a behavior even after three months of resting. Some organizations, such as the Humane Society of the United States and World Animal Protection, object to using sea lions and other marine mammals for entertainment, claiming the tricks are "exaggerated variations of their natural behaviors" and distract the audience from the animal's unnatural environment. 
  The California sea lion is used in military applications by the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program, including detecting naval mines and enemy divers. In the Persian Gulf, the animals can swim behind divers approaching a US naval ship and attach a clamp with a rope to the diver's leg. Navy officials say the sea lions can do this in seconds, before the enemy realizes what happened. Organizations like PETA believe that such operations put the animals in danger. However, the Navy insists that the sea lions are removed once their mission is complete.
caption: A California sea lion at Central Park Zoo. It has climbed to the edge of its tank awaiting feeding, showing awareness of its regular feeding time.
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