Baby sea lions learn how to forage by hunting with mum

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-02-10 00:01

Australia; SA

Photo by Joan Li on Unsplash

Young sea lions may learn to forage by going on hunting trips with their mothers, according to Australian researchers. The scientists say some marine mammals are known to directly teach each other behaviours, but there is little evidence of this in fur seals and sea lions. In 2023, the team fitted an eight-year-old Australian sea lion, mother to an 11-month-old pup, with an underwater camera and monitored her movements over three days. They say during that time, the footage showed her taking a solo hunting trip and a trip with her pup. When solo, they say she spent more time diving and explored deeper waters than when she was with her pup, and it was possible she was demonstrating the process of hunting when she took her pup on the trip.

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Journal/
conference: Australian Journal of Zoology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Adelaide University

Funder: This research was funded by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP), Marine and Coastal Hub (Project 2.6, Mapping critical Australian sea lion habitat to assess ecological value and risks to population recovery). Additional operating costs were funded by the Ecological Society of Australia, via a Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment (006010901), awarded to NA.

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