With just about all the females off hunting for food, older males are now venturing ashore on some of the beaches of the Piedras Blancas elephant seal colony.
Some of these large marine mammals are spending their days sleeping and resting while others are challenging rivals to dominance bouts both on land as well as in the shallows. Still others can be seen with their old brown fur beginning to peel off as it gets replaced by a spanking new gray one lying underneath the dried out brownish one.
Click here for photos of the current visitors.
The number of adult male elephant seals that are currently showing up on these beaches falls way short of the number of adult females that recently filled many of the beaches. In fact, there are only a few groups of adult males on only a few beaches.
Click here for video showing some group male action.
Oftentimes, hot air can be seen escaping the big mouths of the newly arrived males as they open wide to roar out a challenge to all and sundry.
Click here for some action video of roaring big males.
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