The internet loves Chonkers, a beefy San Francisco sea lion

The internet is obsessed with a new critter. His name? Chonkers.

A large Stellar sea lion, affectionately named “Chonkers,” has drawn droves of animal lovers to Pier 39, a shopping center in San Francisco. Photos and videos of Chonkers hopping onto docks and perching among his smaller California sea lion friends have garnered thousands of views on social media.

A now-viral video of Chonkers lounging on a dock at the pier had more than 2,600 likes on Pier 39’s Instagram, as of April 27.

“Oh, he does NOT skip neck day,” the Marine Mammal Center’s Instagram account commented on Pier 39’s video. The California-based rescue, rehab and research center has been monitoring Chonkers since receiving its first public call about the sea lion on March 13, Public Programs Manager Laura Gill told USA Today on Monday.

In case anyone was worried, Gill said Chonkers is “very healthy.”

While Chonkers hasn’t officially hopped on the scale, Gill said the center estimates the adult male to be between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds. And though pinning down an age can be difficult, Chonkers is believed to be older than 5, due to size, Gill added.

Chonkers may not be at the maximum weight for male Stellers, which is 2,500 pounds, because he is busy swimming to the bay for food, Gill said. Though Chonkers’ home territory isn’t known, many Stellers near San Francisco live and breed on the Farallon Islands, which are about 30 miles off the coast, she explained.

Could Chonkers be the new Moo Deng? Punch the monkey? The virality of the sea lion’s future is uncertain, but he’s certainly having a moment now.

“That’s the beach master. The dominant male. Awesome!” one Instagram user commented on Pier 39’s viral video. “Absolute Unit,” another said.

In recent weeks, some Reddit users have also been populating the San Francisco subreddit with photos and videos of Chonkers, sharing updates when the sea lion is on view.

The last time the Marine Mammal Center recorded a Steller sea lion at Pier 39 was in 2023, Gill said. That sea lion didn’t stay around for too long, so it didn’t garner a name and fanbase.

Sightings of Stellers are “pretty rare” in San Francisco, as they tend to live further north. Chonkers, for example, is part of the eastern stock of Steller sea lions, Gill said. They usually live more around southeast Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon.

Chonkers is larger than the other sea lions at Pier 39 because he’s of a different species. Steller sea lions are larger and lighter in color than California sea lions. While male Stellers can weigh up to 2,500 pounds, male California sea lions grow to weigh only about 600 to 850 pounds, according to the Marine Mammal Center.

The eastern stock of Steller sea lions is particularly special because the creatures were removed from the endangered species list in 2013 after initially being added in 1990, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The western stock of Stellers, however, which lives around east of Alaska’s Cape Suckling, remains endangered.