beautifulbeasts

On many of the islands, the sea lions had recently given birth. Uncoordinated pups in loose skins were hidden all over the brush and between the rocks, always at a slight distance from the other sea lions. It takes a few weeks for them to build the fat that fills them out into a sleek sausage shape.

Although sea lions are capable of aggression, they are good-natured creatures in general. I think that the reason the youngest babies are sequestered from the others is simply that they are clumsy and small, while the other sea lions are--on land, at any rate--slightly less clumsy and extremely large.

A chatty sea lion choking out her strangled-vomit "hi!" call made the rounds of a sea lion beach and was brushed off by everyone. She wanted to talk; they wanted to sleep. At last she humphed and tried to settle by herself but seemed to find it unsatisfactory. While flopping around failing to get comfortable, however, she happened to notice one sea lion who hadn't rejected her yet, curled up in the rocks. The chatty sea lion yapped loudly and went barreling towards this potential new friend.

It was true that the potential new friend was not asleep. This was because she was watching her newborn pup.

When the loud sea lion came just one waddle too close, the mother lunged into action, barreling straight towards her visitor, barking short, dangerous yelps and snapping.

The chatty sea lion stopped, bemused. Perhaps she was too young to have had any pups herself. She gargled "hi!" a few more times, mournfully, and then flumped away again. A couple other females let her sleep next to them this time; now she was willing to be quiet.

The people on the beach, meanwhile, scattered hastily at the first lunge and kept a respectful distance. Although the mother had previously shown no discomfort, let alone interest, in our peering at her pup, we were reminded to useful effect that our squashability lay somewhere between that of a defenseless pup and a meaty adult sea lion.

While none of the animals on the Galapagos has learned to fear man--excepting possibly the long-lived giant tortoises, some of whom might remember the days when their brothers and sisters were carried off to sailing vessels for provisions--the smaller creatures show an appropriate caution around anything quite as large as we are. A frigate bird will ignore your tromping right up to its nest, placid as a cow; but a tiny warbler finch flashes its wings and plunges into the brush in terror if you so much as look at it too long.

Lava lizards are speckled reptiles about the size of a green anole. Their coloration gives them many opportunities to hide in plain view, and often I realized one was near only when it sprinted into action and streaked across the rock, disappearing into a crack.

The females, although, as usual, the smaller gender, are easier to spot because of a bright red patch on the underside of their throats. The males have heavier bodies and limit themselves to earth tones.

I was trying to line up a shot of this lava lizard when he suddenly darted off, and I was afraid that I'd lost my chance. It pleased me enormously to discover that he had run only a few feet away and stopped again. It didn't occur to me that there simply wasn't a good hiding place for him to duck into; I assumed that his flight was lava-lizard-business-related, perhaps an interesting bug, and that he was peacefully indifferent to my fascination with him.

But when I thumped over to get my photograph, I was, as you can see in the shot, an object of immediate and intense scrutiny by the poor lava lizard, whose only option for further retreat was the dangerous open ground.

He decided to make a stand.

He pumped up and down in a rapid series of push-ups, staring directly at me to communicate in no uncertain terms:

I am three. Solid. Ounces. Of stone. Cold. Badness.

I hurriedly left him in peace. I admire his bravery, and I hope he thinks he intimidated me successfully.

Interestingly, the identical push-up dance is also used as a courtship display. Context determines how the message should be interpreted.