The wait is on for first Kangaroo Island sea lion pup for winter season

Just as anxious as the expectant mums is National Parks and Wildlife Service SA research and operations coordinator at Seal Bay, Melanie Stonnill.

She says the Seal Bay colony winter breeding season for 2022 isn't far away.

"The colony is starting to prepare itself for the season ahead, with both males and females bulking up in body weight and the bulls tolerance for other males entering their personal space is diminishing - always a trusty sign!" she said.

Locals and visitors should be able to see the new pups for this season on tour by spring.

Spring is a fantastic time to visit the colony and learn about how the breeding season is tracking and hopefully see some of the pups who are a bit older socialising and nursing from their mothers.

The date of first pup birth in previous winter seasons has been May 17 in 2016 and May 7 in 2019.

"The last 'summer to winter' calculation (2017/18 - 2019) was 17 months and 14 days, which if applied from last summer to this upcoming season gives a date of March 20, 2022," she said.

There was surprise for the first pup born for summer 2020/21.

On Oct. 16, 2020 a mother at West Cove gave birth to what appeared to be twins, something previously not recorded at Seal Bay.

The harsh reality is that mother sea lions are not equipped to feed twins and the smaller, weaker of the two died a few weeks later, heartbreakingly recovered from the beach by the rangers.

Melanie and her fellow rangers are now awaiting DNA test results from University of Sydney to confirm whether the pups were in fact "twins".

Pup production for the 2020/21 breeding season at Seal Bay was estimated at 242 births, with the pup mortality average for summer/autumn breeding seasons at 29 per cent.

Research conducted at the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), the research arm of the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) by professor Simon Goldworthy indicates there are some positive signs.

It may indicate the trajectory of the Seal Bay population is changing with the last two breeding seasons showing an increase in pup production.

"The most notable feature for the 2020/21 breeding season was the highest recruitment of 4.5 and 6-year-old females on record," prof. Goldsworthy said.

"The higher pup production in the last two breeding seasons, coupled with record recruitment, may translate into further increases in pup production in the coming breeding seasons."