Our young Australian Sea-lion, Maximus, celebrated his first birthday today, digging into a giant fish from keepers.

Max was the first male Australian Sea Lion born at Taronga and the first pup for mother Lexie, an orphan from South Australia. His birth was an important one for his endangered species, with as few as 10,000 Australian Sea-lions remaining in the wild.

Max has always been a big sea-lion for his age. He weighed about 7.5kg at birth and now tips the scales at almost 40kg, far more than his sister Nala weighed on her first birthday.

Over the past 12 months he has developed into a very social and confident sea-lion, spending his days with Lexie and Nala, as well as our fur seals Ollie and Keke, learning how to socialise, play and interact with others.

He has begun eating fish on his own and his favourite thing to do in the mornings is play in the hose while we clean the exhibit.

Happy birthday Max!

- Keeper, Mel Grainger