Molting and Sparring Adult Male Elephant Seals

The hugely popular giant seafaring mammals, the adult male elephant seals, are once again coming to the local beaches on the central coast of California. Reaching 15 or so feet in length and weighing in the neighborhood of 3+ tons, they are convening here mainly to rest and molt, with the inevitable bouts of dominance sparring interrupting their noisy snores and snorts.

Click here to see video of these molting giants.

However, these giants of the sea do not seem as well-fed this year as the recently departed adult females. For many, their skin seems too big and wrinkled instead of being plumped out by several inches of insulating blubber. Since many appear to be on the skinnier side, they'll have to broaden their foraging hunt after completing their molting in order to be at full strength and weight for the intense fights for the rights to a piece of beach territory in December.

In contrast, some of the well-fed younger adult males can be seen eagerly sparring on land or in the water amongst these currently rather lethargic heavy-weight leviathans.

Here and there, an early-arrived yearling can already be spotted snoozing on the sandy beaches.

Click here to see plenty of photos of large males doing what they do best.

Weaners Galore

Since the threat of a far-reaching tsunami caused by the devastating 9.0 earthquake in Japan has finally dissipated, one would think that the elephant seals camped out on the shores of the central coast would continue their regular business.

Most of the current elephant seal population is composed of this year's pups, who recently matured into weaners. The majority of these have gathered together in oversized weaner pods on just a couple of the local beaches in the Piedras Blancas area instead of being dottted along the coast as in previous years.

An observer might be amazed as the members of the weaner pod at the north end of the Piedras Blancas viewing center seem to be unusually active, feisty and agitated - biting and snapping at anything and everything that's in their vicinity rather than mainly sleeping away their days, conserving energy. Extreme backbends also seem to be the order of the day as many of these maybe not-so-small twirling dervishes are making the most of a pool formed through a combination of high tides and water deposited from a large agricultural drainage pipe.

Click here to see video of weaners in pool.

Another interesting point is the amount of large adult male elephant seals that are still present. One could say that they're there to protect the weaners. But are they ? Scientists believe that the adult males are only interested in mature females. However, my observations of the adult males would seem to point to their protective nature not only towards females but also towards the pups and/or the weaners.

So far, only a handful of the females have returned to the beaches to rest and start their catastrophic molt. Additionally, on some of the small pocket beaches, a few well-fed young males have already hauled out to begin their molting period.

Click here to see more photos.