Mostly Adult Females

Almost all of the favored elephant seal beaches are so packed with the big adult female elephant seals that it's hard to spot any sand. Most of these pregnant female seals have finished molting for this season but are still resting up on the beaches before heading back out to sea to feed.

There are still a few juveniles also hanging around, but all this year's weaners have finally left on their first BIG foraging voyage.

The next group to come in mass to molt will be the sub-adult males. With so many adult females still enjoying our coast, beach space will be at a premium as the guys start to come ashore in larger numbers. In fact, one can already see and hear a few of these young males both in the water and on land.

Click here for more photos. ( Because we've had so many unusually calm days, many of the photos show the elephant seals doing their thing under water for a change. )

Click here for video of females relaxing in the tidal surges.

Click here for video of young male having a relaxing time in a bay.

Click here to see video of young males trying to make decisions.

Molting Time for Females and Juveniles

The first group of elephant seals to return to the beaches on the central coast of California to start their molt are the adult females. Pregnant once more, and having regained their lost weight during the recent birthing/mating season, they have once again taken over their favorite beaches in order to rest and shed their old fur, which has become tan-colored over time. Some of these adult females are really huge...close to 10 feet in length and looking rotundly healthy after only having been absent for a month. It's hard to believe that they left about a month ago looking thin and worn out.

The catastrophic molt, as it's called, takes close to one month to complete. During this time the 'old' fur and attached skin comes off in large pieces so that the new sleek gray fur can be exposed and readied for 'duty'. During this changeover, the elephant seals seem more sensitive to heat than otherwise and can be seen lying either at the water's edge or swimming in the cool Pacific waters if the mercury starts to rise.

At this time, since there are no large males around, the adult females are the dominant ones on the beaches. Amongst these constantly bickering females, one can also see molting juveniles of both sexes and quite a few newly-arrived weaners that are beach-hopping their way to the hunting grounds.

One- and two-year-old elephant seals sometimes suffer from scabby molt, believed to be a skin disease rather than a true molt. ( Click here to read more. )

As April proceeds, sub-adult males will start to come ashore to start the molting period.

Click here for current photos.

Catastrophic Molt

Prime beach space is beginning to be hard to find as more and more large elephant seals work their way up onto the beaches to join the already present weaners. These weaners, who are further honing their swimming, diving, and foraging skills now have to try to stay out of the way of the older elephant seals as hierarchy rules.

Over the last couple of weeks both adult female elephant seals as well as juvenile males ( juvenile male = 1-4 years old ) and juvenile females ( juvenile female = 1-2 years old ) have been crowding onto the beaches of central California to begin their annual catastrophic molt. ( The sub-adult males and adult males will come a little later on for their turn.)

What is a catastrophic molt ? Over a period of many months, elephant seal fur changes color from a gray to dark brown to a lighter brownish hue or even a pale tan.

Maybe this change in fur pigment indicates that the fur becomes less oily over time causing the elephant seal to shed its fur and attached skin about once a year. Also, maybe because the elephant seal spends so much of its life in the salty ocean water, its fur simply has to be replenished as the salts dry it out. Another factor might be that as the elephant seal expands both in length and in girth, it needs to shed its outer layer much like a snake does.

The fur and skin peel off in both larger and smaller pieces revealing the fresh new layer of gray fur below. ( See extra photos.)

During the month this molt takes to complete, scientists believe the molting elephant seals eat nothing even though they often enter the ocean during this period.

Click here to see more photos.

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