Alongside the tan-colored bodies of mainly younger elephant seals that have been adorning some of the beaches of the Piedras Blancas elephant seal colony on the central coast of California for the past couple of months, more and more sub-adult males can be seen as well as heard.
Many of the sub-adult males are showing up in a feisty mood and have been putting on spectacular minor pugilistic shows both on land and in the shallows of the bays.
( Equality in size doesn't seem to be important as you can often observe much younger elephant seals challenging more mature ones. )
From the day they're born, most male elephant seals seem to spend much of their waking hours trying to dominate others, both male and female.
( It would be interesting to know how far back their memories stretch as sometimes they sniff each other upon meeting and don't engage in any sort of superiority fight at all. Whereas, at other times, they either sniff one another and immediately start to fight, or don't sniff at all but start fighting with little or no warning. )
A few of these newcomers, on the other hand, appear to be enjoying themselves peacefully floating around, eyes closed, under the surface in the unusually clear bay water. Then, there are still others that appear to be searching around for something, maybe something edible, in the nooks and crannies of the rocks in the shallow coastal water.
Click here for video of sub-adult males enjoying life in Californnia.
No matter the time of year, each elephant seal season always has something truly fantastic to present to the human onlookers.
Click here for photos.
Click here for video of sub-adult males in dominance mode.
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