Midst of Fall Haul-Out

With Fall Haul-Out about half-way over, the favored elephant seal beaches along the central coast of California are quite busy with a elephant seals of all ages from this year's pups through a few lingering large males.

The young males like to spend much of their time jousting both on land and in the water. One might even call this past-time frolicking, but this sparring is preparing the youngsters for their roles in the male hierarchy, prevalent amongst these pinnipeds. While many of the males seem to love eating seaweed at this juncture of the year, the young females tend to stay onshore and out of the way of the sparring males.

Click here to watch a cute video of young males enjoying their Fall Haul-Out time.

At this time of year, each visiting elephant seal spends about one month or so enjoying our beaches and our coastal shallows before heading back out to hunt once again.

All too soon though, more and more pregnant females will return as will the sub-adult males and adult males as the new birthing season approaches in December.

Click here to see pics of the current visitors.