Endangered Animal: Sea Lion
About Sea Lions
To most of us, sea lions don’t feel like wild animals. This is probably because we don’t often see them hunting, mating, or living in their natural habitats. For the most part, we see them balancing beach balls on their noses, or swimming up to a choreographed spot in order to take pictures with tourists at island resorts. However, sea lions are much more than their ability to bark on command. They are graceful creatures who are currently in desperate need of help.
Wild sea lions live in aquatic areas. They are mammals and cannot stay underwater for longer than 20 minutes, but their sleek bodies and strong flippers allow them to survive off of skillfully hunted fish, squid, crabs, and clams. In their adult hood, sea lions can grow to enormous sizes — they get as long as 9 to 11 feet, and can weigh anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 pounds! In order to sustain their sizes, these sea lions hunt a lot, eating on average 15 to 35 pounds of food every day.
A number of factors are currently impacting the wellbeing of the existing sea lion population. Climate change and overfishing, for example, have resulted in a drastic and dangerous ecosystem change for sea lions. Many of the aquatic species that they depend on for food can no longer be found in their original habitats, forcing large populations of sea lions into starvation. Pollution has also posed a threat to sea lions; entrapment and entanglement into plastic debris often results in severe injury or death for these animals. In fact, one study conducted in British Columbia and Southeast Alaska found that 388 sea lions were tangled up in plastic debris over the span of eight years. In addition to temperature increases and pollution, sea lions have also suffered as a result of boat crashes, illegal hunting, and habitat destruction.
According to fisheries.noaa.gov, sea lions were originally placed on the endangered species list in 1990. Some years later, specialists reclassified sea lions as two different populations: the western distinct population segment (or western DPS), which can mostly be found between Alaska and scattered islands off the coast of Russia, and the eastern DPS, which can be found in the far eastern regions of Alaska. After this reclassification, scientist were able to recognize differences in population densities between the regions. Currently, the eastern DPS is not listed on the endangered species list, while the western DPS remains listed.
Making the Model
Research
In order to make a model of a sea lion from recycled waste, I decided that my first step should be to research defining characteristics of the animals. Aside from the obvious characteristics — whiskers, snout, and fur — I learned that the small ear flaps on the sides of sea lions’ heads are a trait unique to them; one that distinguishes them most from their cousins, the seals.
Planning
After researching and looking at pictures of sea lion heads, I began to sketch out what my final product should look like. I made sure to jot down the important features that my model should include, and brainstormed potential materials I could use for each one.
After sketching, I began to go through my recycled waste and see which of my initial ideas for potential materials might work for the final product. Working my way down to the smaller items, I started to plan which material I would use for the head first.
I knew that the material I used for the head of the sea lion would need to be large enough to serve as a canvas for all of the smaller facial features, sturdy enough to support them, and malleable enough to be shaped into the curvy shape of a sea lion’s skull. The first materials I brought out to test for the head were: a milk carton, a plastic bottle of castile soap, and a fast food cup.
After assessing the size and sturdiness of each container, I decided to use the Dr. Bronner’s bottle to make the head. I felt that although it was thick and would be difficult to cut into, it would be sturdy enough to carry the other facial features that I’d need to attach. I decided to cut the bottle in half, and use the bottom part as the top of the head. The flatness of the bottle might look strange, but I speculated about using a hair dryer to dwarf the shape of the bottle and make it appear more round.
After deciding to use the soap bottle as the base for the model, I cut off the portion that I would use and removed the product sticker from it. I used the top portion of the bottle that I would not need to test out the hair dryer idea, but I couldn’t see any significant changes to the material, so the flat portion of the bottle will have to stay.
After this stage, I began sketching a plan for the snout of the sea lion.
I decided to use the top portion of a water bottle as the snout, and to incorporate mask strings as the whiskers. I began by cutting the water bottle top off:
After cutting, I placed it against the head piece to see what it would look like:
I referred back to the real picture of a sea lion’s head, and I felt that to make the snout more realistic, the water bottle top would need to lose some of its rigidity, and pinch more towards the middle:
In order to achieve this oval shape, I decided to cut the water bottle top along the sides. These cuts would allow me to shape it more easily before attaching it to the head piece. However, I’d have to be careful not to cut too freely, because the whiskers would still need to be laced through the piece later on.
After making the initial cuts, the snout piece ‘attached’ to the head piece looked like this:
This still looked wrong; the snout was tilted up too much, instead of sloping forward/down. I realized that the bottom portion of the bottle top was not allowing the snout to lie down naturally, and that I’d need to remove that piece to achieve the effect I wanted. After the second round of cuts to correct this issue, it ended up like this:
Now the nose piece looked more natural and ready to attach to the head piece. Before attaching though, I decided to insert the whiskers to the snout. I would do this by lacing mask strings through holes poked in the snout, near the bottle cap/nose. This is what the whiskers looked like:
After attaching the whiskers, I felt comfortable attaching the finished nose piece to the head:
** The tacky glue did not work will with securing the snout piece, so I stapled the sides to hold them more securely, I also threaded a paper clip through the top portion for added stability.
After securing the snout, I decided to connect the ear flaps onto the sides of the head piece. These ear flaps are an important addition, since they are the main way to differentiate a sea lion from a seal. I decided to use cut up bits of straw for the ear flaps, because in real life they appear almost tubular in shape.
Finally, to complete the model, I attached two black rubber bands to either side of the snout piece. Because sea lions’ eyes appear to be on either side of the animal’s head, I placed the rubber bands as far apart as possible, in order to maintain the illusion that they were behind the animal’s snout.
Below is the final product!
