Baby sea lion explores surroundings in Sydney Zoo

An adorable newborn Australian sea lion pup has been filmed cavorting around in the sand at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The zoo is asking the public to name the pup, who was born to veteran Mother Nala and Father Charlie on the 30th July and made her first public outing on 22nd September. This is Nala and Charlie’s second pup together, following the successful birth of Torre a male Australian sea lion pup who was born in late 2018. Marine Mammals Unit Supervisor Brad McKenzie said: "Weighing in at only 7kg (15 pounds) at birth, the little pup has increased not only in weight but has shown a massive increase in confidence over the past week. "She is now constantly swimming and playing in the water, which is the type of progress we would like to see at this age” “We are thrilled that she is going to be out on display these spring school holidays. At the moment she is learning to vocalise and although I may be biased, but it is probably one of most adorable sounds ever!” Australian Sea lion numbers in the wild continue to decline due to isolated populations, over-fishing and entanglement in fishing debris. That is why on this occasion Taronga is calling on the public to help name their latest, but not so tiniest addition with the launch of seal pup naming competition. The public will get to choose from two names; Amalie which is a tribute to the pup’s late Grandfather and Nala’s Father Mallie, or Kailani which is of Hawaiian origin and translates to sea and sky.