Steller sea lions are super curious about divers and like to come check us out. They usually aren’t aggressive but can be quite intimidating because of their large size and agility. Normally females are the ones that come say hi to divers and they can get up to 8 feet long and can weigh up to 650 lbs. And if you think that’s crazy, males can get up to 10 feet long and can weigh up to 2,400 lbs! That’s insane! I’m happy I’ve never seen a bull underwater!
Steller sea lions are polygamous, with males competing for territorial space on rookeries and mating with multiple females in their territory. Adult males start arriving at rookeries in early May and establish territories of about 200 square meters. Successful breeding bulls may not leave their territory for as long as two months, fasting and meeting their energy requirements by metabolizing their body fat reserves. By the peak of the breeding season, there will be 10-15 times more females than breeding bulls.
Bulls become sexually mature between 3 and 7 years of age, but typically are not large enough to hold territories successfully until they are 9 to 13 years old.
Males can live up to 20 years old, while females can live up to almost 30 years old.
Steller sea lions can dive down to 250 m, but usually only go down to 15-50 m and last only 1.5-2.5 minutes.
