Morning market goers in most countries are normally middle-aged women and family men who are completing their grocery shopping before the weather gets too hot to navigate around the bazaar.
But here in Santa Cruz island in Ecuador, it not only the humans that crowd the market, their resident wild animals frequent the fish market occasionally too!
Apart from birds, the most startling appearance in the market is a sea-lion
Known as a popular tourist spot, Santa Cruz Fish Market is a place to see fishermen unloading their catches from the day and locals picking out their dinner. It is a wonderful chance for the tourist to see the sea-lion up close in its ‘natural habitat.
Smelling his favorite food on the counter, the sea-lion inches closer to see clearly
Then, it stood on its hind legs like a human to perch over the counter like a customer
Although hungry, the sea-lion just calm stared at the fishes without attempting to attack the fishmonger or snatch it from his hand
It amusingly stood and stared mouth-wateringly at the fishes for some good whole minutes!
We hope the fishmonger will give some scraps to the sea-lion as reward for his good behaviour!
Besides, it is also a great chance for tourists too to bird-watch pelicans trying to steal the fish or waiting for scraps.
Another unique action is when pelican was choked to spit out the fish head it stole from the fishmonger’s counter
You definitely can’t see this everyday and back in your hometown market! Watch the smart animals here:
Video credit: Arpit Uppal
