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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.
NEW - Note the Google Translate box in the upper left corner of each web page. It provides for translation of the web pages into any of more than 50 languages. It is a machine translation and, as such, will in some cases be awkward or incorrect. For this we apologize.
A Summer's Evening in the Garden
Saturday, June 26
North bluff walkway under construction!
| School visits or bus tours 805-924-1628 |
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The site is now including guest photographs in our Photo Album Section under E-Seals. We invite photographers interested in being included to click the ASK US link above and request inclusion. The webmaster reserves the rights of selection, sizing, and duration of the show.
The molting season - Great crowds, young males at play. Because growing new skin at sea would mean circulating hot blood outside the blubber and only fractions of an inch from 40 degree Fahrenheit water, the elephant seal and other pinnapeds have evolved to come to shore for a month, usually their home rookery, to grow new skin and shed the old once each year. Juveniles and adult females come first, sharing the beach with the weaned pups in early April and their number increasing to a maximum number of over 4000 on the two beaches adjacent to the parking area by early May. Unlike the birthing period when each of the females wants some space around her for her pup, during the molt the seals clump close together so that in some areas the sand is no longer visible. This is also a period when the juvenile males enjoy testing themselves in playful battles, both on the beach and in the shallow water. They are fun to watch. It is a quieter period than the winter months when the pups are crying, the mothers alternately singing to their pups and cursing intruders into their territory and the older males bellowing threats and challenges. Lots of sleeping going on. Apnea - cessation of breathing - is frequent during this time. These periods of apnea, ranging from a few minutes to half an hour help the seals conserve moisture during this month long fast.
These photos of seals on the beach during this period. Moving your cursor over the image will pause the slide show. |
Friends of the Elephant Seal PO Box 490 Cambria, CA 93428 Phone: (805) 924-1628 Fax: (805) 924-1629 |
Office / Visitor Center Plaza del Cavalier 250 San Simeon Ave. Suite 3B San Simeon, Ca 93452 Email: fes@elephantseal.org |
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