Steller sea lion

Steller sea lion Temporal range: Early Pleistocene–Present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Adult male, female and pup on Yamsky Islands in the northeast Sea of Okhotsk
Size of male (left) and female (middle) compared to a 1.75-metre (5 ft 9 in) human
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Vulnerable  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Clade:	Pinnipedia
Family:	Otariidae
Genus:	Eumetopias Gill, 1866
Species:	E. jubatus
Binomial name
Eumetopias jubatus (Schreber, 1776)
Range of Steller sea lions (purple = overall range, red = breeding rookeries)

The Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus, also known as Steller's sea lion or the northern sea lion) is a large, near-threatened species of sea lion, predominantly found in the coastal marine habitats of the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Northwest regions of North America, from north-central California to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to Alaska. Its range continues across the Northern Pacific and the Aleutian Islands, all the way to Kamchatka, Magadan Oblast, and the Sea of Okhotsk, south to Honshu's northern coastline. It is the sole member of the genus Eumetopias, and the largest of the so-called eared seals (Otariidae). Among pinnipeds, only the walrus and the two species of elephant seal are bigger. The species is named for the naturalist and explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller, who first described them in 1741. Steller sea lions have attracted considerable attention in recent decades, both from scientists and the general public, due to significant (and largely unexplained) declines in their numbers over an extensive portion of their northern range, notably in Alaska.