No flippers won’t hold him back

Bismarck, a gregarious sea lion who loves to entertain visitors at the Denver Zoo with his underwater antics, has come a long way since Newport Beach animal control officers rescued him as a malnourished pup from a local beach in March 2008.

Named after the infamous German battleship that lost its rudder during a World War II naval battle, Bismarck has no rear flippers.

“He’s actually become very popular,” said Jessica Jenkins, Bismarck’s caretaker and trainer at the zoo. “People like to watch the way he moves to the water and how playful he is. The public seems to gather around to see how amazing he is and how well he’s adapted.”

When rescue workers discovered Bismarck languishing near the water in Newport Beach, he was about 6 to 8 months old and weighed about 24 pounds, or about half as much as a healthy sea lion that age. He also had no rear flippers.

Workers at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, who nursed the sea lion back to health, named the flipper-less pup Bismarck.

It’s a mystery how the sea lion lost his back flippers, but Bismarck seems to have adapted well, said Kirsten Sedlick, animal care supervisor and education coordinator for the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

The wounds were completely healed over when Bismarck came to the marine mammal center, and he already had a great deal of strength in his front limbs, Sedlick said.

Sea lions typically rotate their rear flippers to propel themselves forward on land, but Bismarck uses his front flippers.

“It’s been a really fun experience for all of us here, and we’ve been really fortunate to have such a unique animal,” Sedlick said. “It was so neat to see an animal get over his disability, and I think for a lot of us kind of special.”

Marine life experts determined that Bismarck probably couldn’t survive on his own in the wild, so he was transported via a private, chartered airplane to the Denver Zoo in July.

Bismarck now weighs in at about 132 pounds and is still gaining weight. He can eat about 14 pounds of fish in one day.

A mature male sea lion can weigh as much as 800 pounds, but Bismarck’s handlers hope to control his weight and keep him at 300 or 400 pounds. Because Bismarck relies on his front flippers to pull his weight around, he could develop arthritis or other problems if he gets too heavy.

Even without his back flippers, Bismarck is a graceful swimmer, Jenkins said. Visitors often crowd around Bismarck’s tank to watch him in the water.

“He really is an inspiration when you see him in his natural environment and behaving naturally, because he doesn’t really know he has a disability,” Jenkins said. “It’s a neat message that you can overcome challenges.”