The Start of the Fall Haul-Out

As almost all the big adult male elephant seals have left to fortify their strength and body weight in preparation for the up-coming December territorial fights, the beaches along the central coast of California are currently occupied by only a few dozen mainly tan-furred youngsters doing their thing.

As September heads towards October in this Fall Haul-Out season, however, more and more elephant seals in the younger age brackets will be looking to enjoy spending some quality shore-time on these usually noisy and busy beaches.

Adding to the mix of weaners and yearlings as we go through October, energy-filled ‘teenage’ males will be charging ashore delighting onlookers with their rock-’n’-roll style fights. In addition, alongside these combative youngsters, a few pregnant young females will also be trying to get some shore-rest on the ‘quiet side of town’ away from the boisterous young males.


Click here see video of a young elephant seal wrestling seaweed.

Click here to see more photos.

Now for the Bigger Males

With the pregnant adult females apparently loathe to depart on their BIG summer foraging trip, many of the sub-adult male elephant seals have been reluctant to come ashore and get picked upon by these queens of the marine mammals. Instead, they have mainly chosen to stay just off-shore bottling and lazily swimming around in the shallow bays. The few males that did venture ashore tried to hide quietly amongst the restlessly quarreling moms without getting booted off again. ( Adult female elephant seals are infamous for picking on each other and keeping unwanted suitors/intruders from getting too chummy.)

Click here for photos of females.

However, as June draws to close for this year, and with these ruling females gone, the favoritized beaches are beginning to fill up with bigger males.

Click here for photos of sub-adult males and juveniles.

As we move through the summer months of July and August, we should see quite a few of the large male elephant seals taking up month-long residencies on the beaches of the central coast of California so they can go through their catastrophic molt and get some shore rest.

Click here to see video of adolescent males ganging up on an intruding male.

Currently, dominancy fighting is not at a premium as the newly arrived males are getting some R&R after their first long feeding trip of the year. But, as they recoup, no doubt their usual squabbling and hierarchal clashes will commence once again.

Click here for photos of bigger males.