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The Northern Elephant Seal, Mirounga angustirostris , is an extraordinary marine mammal. It spends eight to ten months a year in the open ocean, diving 1000 to 5000 feet deep for periods of fifteen minutes to two hours, and migrating thousands of miles, twice a year, to its land based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting and rest. The Piedras Blancas rookery, on Highway 1 seven miles north of San Simeon on the California Central Coast, is home to about 15,000 animals. The area is open for viewing every day of the year and there is no admission fee or reservation required.
If there is something you want to know about elephant seals, or about other marine mammals that inhabit this area of the California coast, please ASK US.
To arrange for school visits or bus tours, please call the Friends office at 805-924-1628.
April to August - Time for a Change of Clothes All mammals have to renew their skin cells since, without blood flowing to them, they cannot repair themselves. Humans do it continuously, almost without being aware of it. For many marine mammals, however, continuous renewal would come at considerable cost if they provided the necessary hot blood to the cold sea environment outside their blubber. As a result, the seals come ashore each year for a month to grow the new skin and shed the old. For the northern elephant seals that occurs during late spring and summer. In April, May and June, the beach is dominated by juveniles of both sexes and adult females, many of whom were on the beach in January and February giving birth and nursing their young. The juvenile males take the opportunity to spar with each other in the shallow waters just off shore. The sub-adult males and then the adult males start arriving in May and are on the beach until early September. While the old skin has aged to shades of brown, the new skin ranges from silver to pewter and is quite beautiful. These are recent photos of seals on the beach. Moving your cursor over the image will pause the slide show. |
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Last edited April 30, 2007