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Maternal behavior of California sea lions in different abundance and tourist activity scenarios

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Abstract

Changes in the behavior of free-living animals caused by natural and anthropogenic factors can influence their survival and reproduction. Tourist activities with sea lions in the wild have become an important attraction in various parts of the world. Although these animals appear to be habituated to human presence, in some cases, they have attacked humans, showing that they may be under a certain degree of stress. In this study, we analyzed California sea lions’ maternal behavior under two contrasting scenarios of abundance and tourist activity in Los Islotes rookery, Mexico. We choose maternal behavior because it directly influences the pups’ survival and the females’ fecundity. The presence of tourist boats was not found to affect maternal behavior; however, behavior changes observed in the different scenarios were due to the number of females, the strong winds, and the increase in tide level due to the seasonality of the area. Although sea lions are apparently habituated to the presence of boats, it is recommended to continue monitoring the sea lion population and regulating tourism to be able to detect any change in the colony’s population size and to rule out tourist activities as a possible cause.

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Acknowledgements

We thank to the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN; Instituto Politécnico Nacional) and the National Commission on Protected Natural Areas (CONANP; Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas).

Funding

This research was supported by funding from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN; Instituto Politécnico Nacional: SIP 20195945, SIP 20200815, 20210974, 20220790, 20230748) and the National Commission on Protected Natural Areas (CONANP; Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas: PROREST 2019). Claudia J. Hernández-Camacho was supported by Comisión de Operación y Fomento de Actividades Académicas (COFAA) and Estímulos al Desempeño de los Investigadores (EDI) fellowships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Posgrado en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

    Lili Pelayo-González

  2. Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

    Luis M. Burciaga

  3. Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

    Irma González-López

  4. Laboratorio de Ecología de Pinnípedos “Burney J. Le Boeuf,” Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Avenida Instituto, Politécnico Nacional SN, Playa Palo de Santa Rita, 23096, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

    Claudia J. Hernández-Camacho

Authors
  1. Lili Pelayo-González
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  2. Luis M. Burciaga
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  4. Claudia J. Hernández-Camacho
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Contributions

Conceptualization: CJHC, LPG; Methodology: CJHC, LPG, LMB; formal analysis and investigation: CJHC, LPG, LMB; writing—original draft preparation: CJHC, LPG, LMB; writing—review and editing: CJHC, LPG, LMB, IGL; funding acquisition: CJHC; resources: CJHC; supervision: CLJHC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudia J. Hernández-Camacho.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted under the following research permits approved by the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT; Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales): 7395/19.

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Handling editors: Maria Grazia Pennino & Koen Martens.

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Pelayo-González, L., Burciaga, L.M., González-López, I. et al. Maternal behavior of California sea lions in different abundance and tourist activity scenarios. Hydrobiologia 851, 1385–1395 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-023-05371-8

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