There are over a dozen or so different species of sea lions and fur seals around the world.
Four of these species are found in waters off the western coast of North America.
The sea lions are the California and the Steller's, the northern, or Alaskan fur seal, and the very rare Guadalupe.
The Guadalupe fur seal was long thought to be extinct but it survived, and now several hundred come yearly to Guadalupe Island off Lower California to breed.
All the other species live in the Southern Hemisphere.
Both species have tiny outside ears and streamlined bodies.
The males, always much larger than the females, gather harems (groups of females) during the breeding season.
Fur seals have thick coats of soft underfur with an overlying covering of coarser guard hairs, while sea lions have thinner coats of short, coarse hair.
The California sea lions is the species most commonly exhibited in zoos and circuses around the world, for it can be trained to do many different kinds of tricks in time by professionals.
A large population lives off the coast of California, where it breeds on small islands or on rocky coastal areas.
Males sometimes reach a length of 8 feet and weigh about 600 pounds however females seldom weigh half that much.
The Steller's sea lions is considerably quite a bit larger than the California species when fully grown.
It lives and thrives mainly along the Pacific coast, from northern California to islands off Alaska, and in northern Japan.