There are two species of sea lions that frequent the Pacific coast of the United States — the Steller sea lions and the California sea lions. This is a colony of California sea lions, photographed at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing (which is just north of Monterey). Stacked on top of each other like this all day is sure to cause some tempers to flare and fights break out often. These sea lions took over a dock that was built for tourists back in 2007 and they haven’t given it up since. Sea lions are a protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and they were therefore granted the right of way on the dock, which is now closed off to people for safety reasons