"What can an elephant seal a 4,000 pound, bellowing monstrosity that looks like a melted Yankee Candle teach us about the world? Plenty, it turns out. The animals are amazing. I mean, everything they do is extreme, says Daniel Costa, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. They're the deepest-diving pinniped and they dive for longer than any other seal or sea lion."
"In the Bay Area, one of the best places to observe elephant seals is Ano Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County. The first stop is usually the visitor center, which used to be a creamery, and is filled with fun seal facts like northern elephant seals spend up to 10 months of the year at sea and that their favorite foods include opalescent squid and Pacific hagfish."
"A trail leads for more than a mile over boardwalk and drifting sand, past a gray cliff jutting into the ocean like a slumped-over seal, before arriving at shoreline viewing areas. Here, depending on the time of year, visitors will encounter a sleepy handful or a rowdy convention of elephant seals. In the fall and early winter, there might be 20 creatures lounging there, occasionally galumphing or issuing a burp noise that echoes over the water."
Northern elephant seals are massive, deep-diving pinnipeds that perform extreme behaviors, including the longest dives and prolonged fasts among seals. Typical prey includes opalescent squid and Pacific hagfish. Ano Nuevo State Park provides accessible observation points, with a visitor center housed in a former creamery offering seal facts. A mile-long trail over boardwalk and drifting sand leads to shoreline viewing areas beside a gray sea-cliff. Seasonal attendance varies from small, sleepy groups in fall and early winter to large, noisy colonies during breeding. The breeding season (December 15–March 31) requires reservations and features alpha males, births, fights, and harems, with February bringing peak alpha activity.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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