FULLERTON : Sea Lion Researchers to Relate Experiences

Students and professors who study sea lions on an uninhabited Mexican island will talk today at Fullerton College about their work, which requires them to camp for up to eight weeks near the mammals.

The researchers, who number up to 28, take food with them and are resupplied with water every two weeks by the Mexican Navy, said Prof. Carolyn Heath, an organizer of the program.

Heath and others will build their campsite on the Fullerton College quadrangle today, putting up a tent and solar panels that generate electricity. A professor and student from Mexico City College also will speak. The project is staffed by sea lion researchers from both colleges.

Up to 10 Fullerton College students are involved each summer.

The speakers will talk about the history of sea lions, their behavior, and what it’s like to camp out and study them, Heath said. The four-hour symposium seeks to attract undergraduates to careers in science, she said.

The symposium will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 415 of the South Science Building at the campus.