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CORTE MADERA, Calif. - He has flippers instead of feet and certainly no sneakers or hiking boots. But that didn't stop a sea lion from joining schoolchildren on a walk-a-thon.
The marine mammal apparently noticed children doing laps Friday morning around a course they had set up at the Marin Country Day School next to the shores of the San Francisco Bay. The 185-pound Steller sea lion waddled ashore, shocking students and teachers.
"He did a whole lap," said Kelly Watson, director of constituent relations and web communications at the private school.
It was the latest brush with humans for the 1-year-old sea lion, called Astro by staffers at the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center.
Astro's mother abandoned him at Ano Nuevo Island off the San Mateo coast in June, prompting biologists to bottle-feed the pup. They released the adolescent on April 25 with a radio tag.
But Astro keeps returning to civilization. About a week ago, he swam under the Golden Gate Bridge to the shores of Corte Madera. The Marine Mammal Center again picked him up and released him in the Farallons, 27 miles from San Francisco.
But returned again Friday, just in time for the walk-a-thon.
"They are very intuitive, like dogs, and he was able to find his way back," said Marine Mammal Center spokesman Jim Oswald.
Astro's run-ins with humans could pose danger to both species, so the center will try to find him a permanent home, possibly the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, which keeps threatened Steller sea lions.
"This just shows the effect human contact can have," Oswald said. "It's not a happy story for Astro.
(And just so you know stubbornness isn't necessarily a bad thing!) Turtle tries to lay eggs near NYC rink
Sun May 13, 6:47 AM ET
NEW YORK - A determined turtle crawled up a flight of stairs and trudged toward Central Park's ice skating rink in an apparent urge to lay eggs near the rink, park officials said.
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The 20-pound snapping turtle turned up near the Wollman Rink three times on Friday, according to park officials. The animal's first foray was at about 7:30 a.m., said Douglas Blonsky, the president of the Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit group that manages the park.
The reptile was returned each time to a nearby pond, sometimes in a wheelbarrow.
Turtles are a common sight in Central Park. Their namesake Turtle Pond was redesigned in 1997 specifically to accommodate them and other animals. Among other changes was a new island with sandy spots suitable for turtles to lay eggs, according to the conservancy
