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A Steller sea lion cow and calf. Credit: Alaska Department of Fish & Game
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Removed from the Endangered Species List in 2013, the eastern distinct population segment of the Steller sea lion is still recovered a decade later.
Steller sea lions were named for Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German surgeon and naturalist who first documented the species in 1742. They were once so abundant throughout the North Pacific that Indigenous peoples and settlers throughout the coastal North Pacific Ocean used them for meat, hides, and oil. The species still plays an important role to Alaska Natives for food and handicrafts.
Found in colder temperate to subarctic waters of the North Pacific Ocean from California to Japan, Steller sea lions mate and give birth on land at breeding sites called rookeries, typically coming back each year to mate at their native rookery site. They also haul out to rest on beaches, ledges, rocky reefs, and on sea ice. While most are typically found in coastal waters on the continental shelf, they sometimes forage in much deeper continental slope waters, especially during the non-breeding season.
In 1997, Steller sea lions were formally split into two distinct population segments due to differences in their genetics, body size and shape, and population trends. Under the Endangered Species Act, the western DPS was listed as endangered and the eastern DPS remained listed as threatened.
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