Daniel Costa at Isla Lobos, Uruguay-- We got up at first light this morning and caught our first South American sea lion!!  It was quite an event with a crew of locals, some speak English and others only Spanish.  At times it was a little awkward, especially when most of the people have never caught a sea lion before!  It all went well, but these animals are big.  They are massive.  The female only weighed about 150 kg (or 330 lbs), but she seemed gigantic.  They are mellow animals and once underway things went quite well.

This had a special significance for me, This is the last sea lion species that I have not worked with or sampled.  So with this animal I can now celebrate having worked with 6 of 7 sea lion species. The 7th species is the Japanese sea lion and it is extinct, so I don't plan on trying to put tags on or get blood samples from that species.

The picture is of the female who has a satellite tag, a time depth recorder and a small VHF transmitter.  Her pup is next to her. Photo: Daniel Costa.

As the expedition in Urugway continues, we'll be deploying more tags on this magnificent species. Check back for more tagging news, and images from the isla!