Ronan was born in the wild in 2008,[1] but was deemed unreleasable in 2009 after becoming stranded thrice and suffering from malnutrition. She was adopted by the Pinniped Lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2010.[2] She initially served as a control subject in the research of graduate student Peter Cook, who was studying "the cognitive effects of a neurotoxin produced by certain algae found along the California coast"; many affected sea lions had been taken in by the program.[1]
Starting in July 2011, at age three, she began training to bop her head to a metronome, inspired by similar studies on cockatoos and African gray parrots.[1][3] She later began to do so to music as well, including rhythms she has not heard before. She has been trained in over 2,000 sessions.[4][2] A 2025 study of Ronan found her ability to keep a beat to rival that of humans.[5]