"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. They also fast for longer. Everything they do is just pushing the limits.""
"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."
Elephant seals are extreme marine mammals that dive deeper and longer and fast longer than other pinnipeds. Adults can weigh around 4,000 pounds and produce loud vocalizations and conspicuous physical displays. Año Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County provides public access with a visitor center and a mile-long trail to shoreline viewing areas. Seasonal patterns vary: modest numbers in fall and early winter, and an intense breeding season from December 15 to March 31 featuring births, fighting, harems, and dominant males in February. Breeding-season access requires reservations and docents caution about close, charging animals when agitated.
Read at The Mercury News
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