On Central California Coast, Elephant Seals Await

The Rookery

A few years ago we were driving north along the central California Coast near San Simeon when we saw what appeared to be hundreds of dead seals on the beach at the base of the bluffs. As lovers of wildlife and concerned environmentalists, we immediately turned around to investigate this apparent tragedy. That was the day we discovered the Elephant Seal rookery and haul out beach at Piedras Blancas just north of San Simeon. The Piedra Blancas rookery is located on Highway 1 seven miles north of San Simeon on the California Central Coast. It is home to about 15,000 elephant seals and has an open viewing area with boardwalks on the bluff tops where you have an excellent view of the beach and seals. The area is open to the public every day of the year and there are knowledgeable docents from The Friends of the Elephant Seal to answer all of your questions. There is no admission fee or reservation required to see the seals. Our first visit was before the board walks and railing were constructed and, if you were foolish enough, you could walk right down on the beach and get a close look at one of these 5,000 pound seals that can measure up to 16 feet in length. Since then we have returned every year to observe the seal activities at various times of the year and attend the annual fund raising dinner sponsored by the Friends of the Elephant Seal organization in San Simeon.

We learned that the Northern Elephant Seal, Mirounga angustirostris, were thought to be extinct in the late 1880's due to harvesting by whalers and sealers for their blubber and the oil obtained from the blubber. Fortunately, a small group of less than 100 elephant seals continued to breed on Guadalupe Island off of the coast of Baja escaping the seal hunts. Since being protected by Mexico and the United States, elephant seals have flourished and established numerous rookeries along the west coast. In 1972 with the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, elephant seals were finally protected from hunting and harassment and the total population is now estimated at over 170,000. Elephant seals get their name from their extremely large and pendulous noses and not their enormous size.

Elephant seals spend about ten months of the year at sea; they are solitary and spend the majority of their time deep under water routinely diving 1,000 to 2,000 feet and staying under for up to one-half hour before surfacing for air for a few minutes. Some seals have been observed diving over 5,000 feet and staying under for as long as two hours.

The male seals feed primarily on bottom dwelling fish such as hakes, rays, small sharks and squid, consuming about 100 pounds of fish each day. They dive and forage for food 24 hours a day for several months. Male elephant seals can reach weights of up to 5,000 pounds and their primary predators are the great white shark and killer whales. The smaller female seals weigh 1,200 to 2,000 pounds and spend months at sea as well while foraging in deep water that prevents them from feeding on the bottom. The female elephant seals feed over a larger area than the males and their diet consists primarily of squid and fish.

Big Male Seal on Rookery

The most exciting time to visit Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seals is during their breeding season. The elephant seal breeding season begins in late November when the large mature bull seals arrive at the beach. They engage in combat to claim a particular section of beach where they will eventually establish their harem when the pregnant females return to the beach in mid-December. The large male seals establish their dominance in a fighting ritual where they rear up, slam their bodies into one another with a great cacophony of loud bellicose belches and grunts and slash with their large canine teeth. These battles can last over half an hour and while they look and sound ferocious, they rarely end in the death of an opponent. They often intimidate their challengers by simply rearing back on their hindquarters and throwing back their head to show off the size of their huge noses while bellowing threats. They are so enormous that all this posturing and slamming expends a great deal of energy resulting in frequent breaks where they just collapse on the beach for ten minutes or so. Then they become aroused and go at it all over again. The whole experience is really quite a show!

The pregnant females start arriving around mid-December and start giving birth peaking in mid-January. Mothers defend their area of the beach and protect their shiny black new pups from other females and even the big males. By the end of February there are thousands of elephant seals on the beach. It is at this time, about 24 days after giving birth, that the mature females are ready to breed. Elephant seals exhibit a phenomenon called delayed implantation that helps assure that they will not give birth to their new pup until they return to the beach at the end of the year. After nursing their pups for about 28 days the mother seals leave the rookery for their extended foraging trip at sea, leaving the pups, called weaners at this stage, to learn to swim and hunt on their own.

Watching elephant seals on the beach during breeding season is anything but boring. There is a lot of activity and noise in the rookery with the males fighting, the juvenile males copying the bulls and learning how to fight, females squabbling over space and pups and the pups calling for their mothers. All this activity results in an endless array of belches, snorts, grunts, squeaks and squeals. It is truly amazing to see how fast these huge behemoths can move across the sand like enormous undulating slugs. Once you see them race across the sand you will understand why it is not wise to be on the same beach with them and realize they are best viewed from the boardwalk on the bluff above.

Male and Female Seal on Rookery

Elephant seals replace old skin and hair through an abrupt process called a catastrophic molt. They molt all at once making them look pretty ragged on the beach. Elephant seal nostrils are normally closed and they can go into apnea where they are sleeping and not breathing for up to 30 minutes. They can appear to be dead and then suddenly snort their nostrils open and lazily flip sand over themselves. The females and young males sleep on the beach often in large groups laying over one another. It is hard to imagine one of these huge sea mammals looking cute, but I can't think of another description when they use one of their huge flippers to gently scratch their nose.

If you have never seen an elephant seal haul beach out or rookery you have to go! The best time to experience the elephant seals is between Thanksgiving and Valentine's, but seeing these amazing sea animals is a definite treat any time of the year. Northern elephant seals have 10 known rookeries on the west coast and Baja, most are on islands, but the one at Piedras Blancas is one of the few on the mainland. It's a good idea to check the Friends of the Elephant Seal website at http://www.elephantseal.org/ before you go to see what is going on and what to expect. It is well worth the 6-hour drive to Piedras Blancas to see these huge and noisy once thought to be extinct sea mammals. There are many great places to stay and excellent restaurants featuring local Central Coast wines in nearby San Simeon and Cambria. Also, be sure to have your binoculars ready and be on the lookout when you pass the Hearst Castle property, you might spot a herd of Zebra, exotic antelope from Africa or a flock of bighorn sheep from Highway 1.