A huge sea lion is attracting onlookers at a pier popular with both other sea lions and tourists in San Francisco, surprising visitors and earning him online fame.
“POV: You go to the gym and see a guy who just got a different body,” the caption reads a video Of sea lion. many commentators reddit threads Those dedicated to the mammal have been called “AbsoluteUnit,” “Harbor Master” and “Sir Chungus Maximus.”
But the name that has stuck is Chonkers – because, well, it is. chunky.
Video Posts posted on social media last month showed the sea lion leaping from the bay onto a pontoon filled with smaller sea lions, who immediately scattered to make way. Chonkers, about two to three times larger, weigh about 1,500 to 2,000 pounds, according to experts. He has a light brown coat and a boxy, bear-like head.
He is not a freak of nature. He is a stellar sea lion.
Their species, unlike the California sea lions commonly found around San Francisco, is rarely seen on Pier 39 – a popular tourist destination near one end of Fisherman’s Wharf. There, thousands of small animals are resting on wooden planks set up for their rest.
Steller sea lions typically move away from the coast, said Laura Gill, public programs manager at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, who has been tracking Chonkers since March 13. He and other experts believe the chonkers probably swam about 30 miles from a raft in the Farallon Islands and made their way under the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco Bay.
The waters of the bay are shallower than the open ocean, where sea lions can avoid predators and more easily track prey such as anchovies and rockfish, Ms. Gill said. He said the floating platforms are a comfortable alternative to the rough seas, where, to rest, sea lions may have to drag themselves onto jagged rocks.
“They can relax on those platforms for hours, days,” he adds, “and not have to worry about the elements.” Although life is great on the docks, the journey there is long, which could deter other Steller sea lions, Ms. Gill said.
Steller sea lions are similar in appearance to California sea lions, but they are much larger. Males can grow up to 11 feet long and weigh up to 2,500 pounds.
They generally feed at night, feeding on over a hundred species of fish and cephalopods. But individual sea lions can adopt their own hunting strategies National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“He is somewhat extraordinary,” Ms. Gill said of Chonkers. “He’s probably very motivated by food.”
On the Farallon Islands, Steller sea lions and their smaller counterparts, California sea lions, compete intensely for food, Ms. Gill said.
“Chonkers is kind of working smarter, not harder,” he adds, “trying to find an easier, safer place, where there’s less competition, less predators.” At Pier 39, Ms. Gill said, Chonkers is “the king of the docks.”
Sheila Chandor, who has been harbor master at Pier 39 since 1985, said Chonkers had been visiting the pier for about 15 years, but previously only stayed a day or two at a time.
“It was quite amazing to see this amazing mammal,” Ms Chandor said, remembering seeing her for the first time. This time, Ms. Chandor said, the Chonkers stayed much longer and it appeared that a juvenile Steller sea lion also joined them for a few days.
“I hope we don’t get any more,” Ms. Chandor said, noting that wooden floats were constructed California sea lionsWhose weight is up to 700 pounds. (Anyway, there’s hardly enough room for all the animals, who regularly pile up and push each other down as they swim.)
“When he’s sitting on the dock, he’s much bigger than the others,” Ms Chandor said. “He makes them all look like little kittens.”
“He’s such a big man,” she marveled. “He’s really big.”
Ms Chandor described international tourists, locals and other visitors gathering at the pier on Wednesday morning in the hope of seeing the great animal.
“They didn’t know each other, but they were all saying, ‘Are you here to see the Chonkers?'” she said.
