Versatile Fore-Flipper Action

When I first started reseaching the central coast elephant seals, I was told that they hardly use their fore-flippers at all. However, having observed, photographed and videotaped them for a few years, I find I have to disagree.

These human-like 'hands' are constantly in use both on shore and in the water. Some of their land uses include, the obvious scratching of various parts of their body...batting away an unwanted intruder....using the long nails as a sharp retaliatory weapon...clasping an antagonistic eseal in a hugging motion....helping haul the ungainly-on-land body across rocks and sand.

Then there's the water. Recently, I have been fortunate enough to witness and videotape how they use their fore-flippers in a rather human-like way as they bottle and twirl around in the coastal bays.

Bottling is where they seem to be floating vertically in the water but are actually arching their upper torso upright and backwards. They hold this position by moving their fore-flippers in a circular motion much as synchronized swimmers would do with their arms and hands to stay upright.

What is the purpose of bottling ? This arching of the upper torso in the water, which seems to only be carried out by male elephant seals, obviously helps them quickly discern who's approaching both above them on the beaches and the bluffs as well as in the water. Bottling seems to be the action of choice when the males of all ages first come to the coastal waters. After that it seems to be more of a sporadic event. Apart from finding out who their immediate compadres and competition are, maybe they're also preparing and strengthening their fore-flippers for the switchover to land movement. After all, for the huge adult males, hauling a couple of tons of blubber across land at the high speed of 10+ m.p.h. is no mean feat !

Watch this video as they use their fore-flippers in an almost human or dophin-like way in their aquatic maneuvers.

Click here for photos showing fore-flipper versatility.

Dominance Fighting Is In

When the large male elephant seals started coming ashore in July, many were looking rather on the skinny side. Amazingly, and I say amazingly because scientists believe that elephant seals do NOT eat while they're visiting the beaches on the central coast of California, these giant marine mammals have made quite a noticeable weight gain ! They're now looking like you would expect them to, full of blubber and acting quite feisty once again.

With resting no longer being the most important activity some of the days, these heavy- weights are spending quite a bit of shore-time fighting whoever will accept the proffered challenges.

Throughout their lives, male elephant seals spend a good portion of their non-foraging time in determining who is stronger and more dominant by engaging in skirmishes with plenty of other elephant seals both in the shallows and on the beach.

Despite the obvious signs of mounting testosterone which is giving rise to quite a few fiercely combative skirmishes, many fights at this time of year are still quite lacksadaisical. Presently, the more serious fights are taking place in the shallows, while the disagreements on land usually arise when a male wants to change his position or location.

Click here to see current photos from Elephant Seal Land.

Some males do their best to avoid fighting altogether unless really pushed to the limit while others are constantly on the lookout for a good bruisin'. When observing these fights, it looks as though some males almost appear to be laughing as they face their opponents while others stare fiercely aggressively as they go on the attack. Still others look as though they're tolerating the inevitable. Interestingly enough, you can even witness occasional actual flashes of anger both in the behavior and in the eyes of some of these huge marine mammals as they go about deciding dominance.

The adult male elephant seals, however, usually only draw significant blood in the territorial fights that take place in December of each year. Fierce as those fights often are though, they do not fight to the death. Instead they either end with one of the combatants voluntarily backing away or being chased away by the victor.

Elephant seals have established their rituals for fighting which they follow pretty much every time there's a challenge. Click here to learn about the different steps.

Click here to see photos of male elephant seal aggression.

Click here to watch video of large male elephant seals battling in the shallows.

Click here to watch video of large males doing battle on the beach.