The Elephant Seals of Ano Nuevo

Elephant Seals are amazing!

The West Coast has an amazing variety of wilderness and wildlife. As seasons change, you can “rotate-through” spectacular opportunities to view wildlife and explore new areas.

One example is Ano Nuevo State Park, about 50 miles south of San Francisco. It is one of the few places to see an elephant seal colony. Twice each year the seals come ashore from the ocean depths. In December they mate and give birth. In April-August they come ashore to molt.

My favorite time to visit is January through early March. This is a very exciting time on the beach. Male elephant seals battle each other for the right to mate. Each bull establishes territory and violent battles erupt when another encroaches on it. Meanwhile the females give birth to their pups. Most of the adult seals are gone by early March, although weaned pups remain until April.

I cannot describe the awe one feels walking through a mass of mini-bus sized creatures that sound like Harley Davidson motorcycles. The bulls can be over 16 feet long and weigh 2.5 tons. They are designed to dive for 20 minutes to depths up to 2,000 feet.

Since humans are so puny by comparison, walking quietly through the colony does not upset them. For safety, docents escort small groups every 15 minutes.

Here are some pictures from my last hike through the colony. They do not do justice to the size of the creatures or the feeling of seeing “wild nature” on our planet as if you just parachuted in from outer space.

The alpha bull defends his territory. The closer to the edge of the beach, the better the location.