Elephant seals...
On Sunday, Shiv & me had been to Año Nuevo State Reserve, for a ranger guided walk to watch elephant seals. It was an extraordinary experience!
Año Nuevo is just off CA-1 between Half Moon Bay & Santa Cruz. We had booked tickets for this 2 months back - not because we plan that far ahead, but because that was the earliest time we could get tickets for when we booked back in January. A walk starts every 15 minutes and a group usually has 20 people in it. The walk is about 3 miles long and takes about 3 hours as a docent provides information about the life of the elephant seals.
Elephants seals spend the winters on the beaches of Año Nuevo. Males and females arrive in November every year. The males spent the first few months fighting amongst themselves in order to establish their supremacy for mating. Meanwhile, females give birth to new born seals and start nursing them. Then comes the mating period during which the best of the males breed with the females. After the mating, the adult seals slowly start to leave and head back to the sea. Females head west while the males take a north-westerly route. Once in the sea, each seal is on its own. They do not move in groups in the ocean.
Año Nuevo is just off CA-1 between Half Moon Bay & Santa Cruz. We had booked tickets for this 2 months back - not because we plan that far ahead, but because that was the earliest time we could get tickets for when we booked back in January. A walk starts every 15 minutes and a group usually has 20 people in it. The walk is about 3 miles long and takes about 3 hours as a docent provides information about the life of the elephant seals.
Elephants seals spend the winters on the beaches of Año Nuevo. Males and females arrive in November every year. The males spent the first few months fighting amongst themselves in order to establish their supremacy for mating. Meanwhile, females give birth to new born seals and start nursing them. Then comes the mating period during which the best of the males breed with the females. After the mating, the adult seals slowly start to leave and head back to the sea. Females head west while the males take a north-westerly route. Once in the sea, each seal is on its own. They do not move in groups in the ocean.
Elephant seal acrobatics
The young seals (also called "weaners"), stay on for a longer time huddling up together. They leave around April. The mortality rate for these seals is not too impressive when they are young. Many even die on the beaches if they have been separated from their mothers or have not received the required attention from their mothers. On the other hand some of the young ones are significantly larger than the rest, possibly because they have been lucky to have been taken care of by more than one mother! They are called "super-weaners" :).
Another interesting fact about these marine mammals is that they eat only 40 days in a year! They starve through the rest of the year. I wonder how much they must be hogging during those 40 days in order to sustain a whole year and yet be so fat! And yes, I did wish we humans could also make do with just 40 days of eating!! (:D)
Overall, the experience was very memorable. Nothing can beat being able to watch a creature in its own habitat. It is very different from visiting an aquarium and being told the same facts.
Another interesting fact about these marine mammals is that they eat only 40 days in a year! They starve through the rest of the year. I wonder how much they must be hogging during those 40 days in order to sustain a whole year and yet be so fat! And yes, I did wish we humans could also make do with just 40 days of eating!! (:D)
Overall, the experience was very memorable. Nothing can beat being able to watch a creature in its own habitat. It is very different from visiting an aquarium and being told the same facts.
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