Sea lions reclaim their beach … or not

A viral TikTok video Friday showed what appeared to be sea lions chasing people on a beach, specifically a narrow strip of sand at San Diego’s La Jolla Cove. The video of people running from two yelping seals gathered over 10 million views by Tuesday morning, but sea lion expert Eric Otjen with SeaWorld San Diego said this is normal behavior. This is breeding season, and male sea lions will often spar to protect their right to mate. The sea lions weren’t chasing people, he said. In fact, one was chasing the other off his beach. The video shows ample opportunities for the animals to attack people, but both passed right by.

What should someone do if he’s in a sea lion’s way? Typically, a sea lion is not attacking a person. Even though the beasts didn’t warrant the crowd “running like Godzilla” was chasing them, Otjen said it was probably good to get out of their way. Getting run over by a 200- to 300-pound yelping roll of blubber would put a damper on a beach day. 

Dig deeper: Read Janie B. Cheaney’s article in WORLD Magazine on the legal rights of Happy the elephant.