Buddys Journey

By:Andres Lopez
 It was a warm, june day when all the sea lions began to come a shore to perform the
yearly ritual of birth giving. All the female sea lions gathered around the shore as they were
giving life to their pups while the fathers went to rest and sleep.
This is where the adventure of a special sea lion, named Buddy, begins. Her mother,
Lucy, just finished giving birth and is extremely tired. Lucy and Buddy both rested on the island
for a good 2 weeks. Lucy noticed that her child, was getting very fidgety, and decided to get
some dinner. She used her winged shaped flippers to squaddle in the sand to get in the water.
She then used her flippers to swim swiftly in the water. Going as fast as 18 Miles per hour, she
managed to get some fish, which includes herring salmon and sardines. For some reason, it was
quite difficult to catch these prey, but it didnt really matter, since it was more than enough for
her and her son.

2 days later, the mother sea lion decided to finally take young buddy here, and teach him
how to swim. As she took Buddy to shore, he was a bit shy and didn't want to go. After a couple
pushes, buddy finally went to the shore and got in the water.He thought it would be cold, but the
milk from his mother made him add layers of blubber that didnt make him cold. This really
surprised him and felt happy the cold california waters did not hurt him. As a baby sea lion, he
could only travel 8 miles an hour in the water,very impressive for a newborn. His mother was
very proud of his son, for he was a strong little sea lion and proved to be very energetic.
Lucy, the mother, and Buddy the pup both traveled north for the summer, not far from the
californian waters, for they like to travel there, because of the comfortable weather. They arrived
to cold icy waters close to Alaska.
 Buddy was now big enough to hunt for fish on his own. He no longer needed help from
his mother. He can now hold his breath for 10 minutes. Buddy searched hard but he could not
find any fish. He went back to the surface to rejoin with his mother, who was also scavenging for
food. They were both extremely hungry, and needed food. They traveled for miles until they saw
something spectacular. They spotted food heaven, for they saw thousands of sardines that
appeared as grey water. They were eating those sardines like there was no tomorrow.
As they were eating, something was approaching. Something with an immense size came
swooping tons of sardines with a net of massive size. Lucy and Buddy, were too distracted eating
when they heard this huge object when suddenly, the net captured both the Lucy and Buddy.
They both were submerged by thousands of pounds of fish as they were carried to the surface.
With all her strength, Lucy was biting and pulling off the rope that were weaved into the net and
managed to make a small tear though it. She pushed Buddy to the little tear and charged will all
her energy to squeeze Buddy out. The entire net was floating on the air as it was being dragged
into a strange platform. Buddy then managed to pop out of the net, with help of his mother. As
Buddy dived back into the ocean , he saw up in despair as he spotted his mother trying to get out
of the net. But she could not hardly get one flipper out if the net. Buddy saw his mother who,
stopped struggling and stared at his pup. That was the last look at her child she will ever see. The
net was now on top on a huge metal surface that was hundreds of feet tall. That was the last time
buddy saw his mother, his family.

Buddy became unconscious because of all the distress he just faced and woke up on an
icy shore. He must have been out for a long time, for it was now night-time and was still very
dizzy. He miraculously survived and woke up in land. He flipped over to see if the large object in
the sea was still there, and it was not. He closed his eyes and fell asleep once more.
He later woke up, in the middle of the day, very confused, questioning what had
happened the last few hours. He got up, very worryingly , and looked at the horizon , where the
horrendous object was, he had remembered his mother, who had saved him, and began to weep.
He looked at where he was. For once, it was very cold, and saw lots of ice and rock. He
was very depressed, he had lost the only person he loved. He decided the best thing to do was to
move on, but it was still very hard to do. He was walking on the cold, shore and was on a quest
to find a new home. He walked on land for quite some time very slowly. He traveled slowly on
land because his flippers did not allow him to properly walk on land, for they were meant to to
swim on water. After a long mile of walking and flopping, Buddy found a mysterious cave, not
too far from the shore. He decided to set his new home there. Again, tired from the long walk ,
he took a nap.
Buddy was restfully napping when the noise of 2 animals came close. It was a mother
Polar bear and her cub, both approaching the cave. Buddy was extremely scared, for his mother
told him to stay away from polar bears, because they are dangerous and can eat him. Buddy was
petrified as he figured that this cave belonged to them and decided to take cover. As the Polar
bears came in, the mother smelled something delicious. The polar bear started searching the cave
as she knew there was something in here. Buddy, hiding behind some ice, completely lost it , and
scuttled out of the cave as fast as his body can manage. The mama bear roared as she saw a very
tasty sea lion in her home. She stomped and ran out to get Buddy and eat him

Buddy now was in a state of panic as he rushed out to the sea. He has made some
distance from the cave, but not enough. The Polar bear was catching up to buddy and now was
moments away from a bite. Just as Buddy was ready to give up on his life, and other marine
mammal came along and charged the polar bear ,dropping it and sliding against the ice. The
mother polar bear got scared and walked slowly back to her cave.
Buddy, saw in revival, the mammal that had just saved him, he has never seen anything
like it and asked what he was. The mammal responded with I am a Elephant seal, I saw you
were in trouble and i came to rescue you, are you okay? Buddy thanked the elephant seal and
asked where he came from. The elephant seal said his name was Billy and he came from the
shore where and that he saw Buddy going to the cave trying to warn him. Buddy did not see
Billy because he looked like a rock. There were hundreds of elephant seals on the shore
Billy asked buddy, I've never seen a pinniped like you, what are you? what species are
you? Buddy said that he was a sea lion and he came from the californian waters. Buddy notice
that Billy, a Elephant seal and himself, a sea-lion, are both pinnipeds. The only difference that
Billy had was that he was much bigger and he had a different size. He then manage to come up
with an evolutionary lineage. A sea lion and a elephant seal both had webbed feet called flippers
and also had a flippers on their legs used for swimming. The elephant seal however, was much
bigger because he lived in the icy water and has more blubber than the small, sea lion. This
means that the sea lion and Elephant seal are related to one another, because they must have
come from a single common ancestor.

Knowing this information, Buddy had the courage to ask Billy a question, since they
were related as pinnipeds.Have you seen a giant surface in the middle of the ocean stealing all
the fish? Billy had a shocking face on him and told Buddy STAY AWAY FROM THOSE
SHIPS! Buddy was surprised, since he did not not know what ships were. Ships are those big
things you mentions and they are the reason we cannot find any food, many of my children have
died because of those ships overfishing Billy said.
Buddy told Billy how those fishing ships almost captured him and took her mother from
him. This made a lot of sense for Buddy, those ships were the reason he could not find any fish
in the ocean and are killing lots of animals here. Buddy decided to never go near those ships ever
again, for they are stealing all the food and will kill him. Buddy thanked Billy, and decided to go
back to the californian waters to warn all the sea lions of these ships so they could be safe and
prevent tragedies like the ones he faced.
Buddy the sea lion headed south, back to the californian waters to warn his species as fast
as he could. He was swimming as fast as 25 miles per hour trying to avoid any predators that he
might encounter like Killer whales and sharks.

A couple days later, he reached the island where he was born, he saw a bunch of sea lions
gathered and complaining that there is no food in the ocean. He went to the top where everyone
can hear him. Once he was there he shouted at the top of his lungs LISTEN! All the sea-lions
became quiet and all turned at Buddy. He then explained the threat of the boats on how they are
over-fishing and how you can get captured in one of their nets just like his mother did. The entire
sea-lion community was astonished and it all made sense. The reason why there was no fish and
why animals were starving is because those ships were swooping in and stealing all those fish.
 This sea-lion community decided to move to the galapagos islands where no fishing ships
were known to go and start the new birth-giving location there. The entire sea-lion population
viewed buddy as a savior and after this great migration, the sea-lions were no longer hungry and
none of them died being captured by a fishing boat. The sea-lions were now safe and can now
guarantee their safety if they stay near the galapagos islands and for Buddy, he lived a happy life
and had many children whom, he protected, and became the leader of the sea-lion colony.
 Bibliography

Greene, Thomas F. Marine Science: Marine Biology and Oceanography. New York, NY:

Amsco School Publications, 1998. Print

"The Marine Mammal Center." : California Sea Lion. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2016.

"Sea Lion Facts and Information." Sea Lion Facts and Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 27

May 2016

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sea-lions