Adult Males Enjoying August Beach Time

As August heads towards September, many adult male elephant seals can still be seen on some of their favorite beaches along the central California coast.

Click here to see photos of some of the current adult male visitors.

The male elephant seal often gets a bad rap as being extremely mean and vicious. As far as I have observed though, the males are usually very sweet towards the pups and take great care around them. When it comes to the weaners, the older males don't hesitate to put them in their place, but without any rancor. When it comes to the adult females, the older males obviously do want to mate with them when they're in heat, but they still allow the female to make the final call. When it comes to sub-adult males and other adult males, however, confrontation often takes place. This doesn't necessarily result in a physical fight. They might posture, 'talk', or make threatening moves without actually coming into physical contact. Mostly, one male will back away and peace is restored once again.

In December, when territorial fights tend to take place, serious fights can turn into bloody confrontations....but never deadly ones. For the most part, the fights are short in duration....10 minutes or less...although, in rare instances, there are a few territorial bouts that last upwards of 30 minutes or more. ( Sub-adult males will sometimes also try their luck during this time period...but, the well-established adult males are NOT about to yield their hard-won turf rights to those they consider subordinates. )

Then in January and in the first part of February, male fights sometimes occur over females, when both adult males and sub-adults try to mate with some of the many females. Interestingly enough, once in a while, the alpha male AKA beach-master will allow others to mate with 'his' females.

So...in July and August, while most of the older males are trying to rest up, many of the sub-adults can often be seen challenging one another in the shallows and on land.

Click here to see video of some of the males enjoying their downtime.

2011-2012 Birthing Season Is Upon Us

So far, this season is proving to be quite different from those of recent years as the usual often-seen bloody testosterone-driven territorial fights during the month of December haven't materialized.

Click here to see a video of the only truly bloody fight I've witnessed so far.

Instead, those adult male elephant seals that did come ashore starting in the early part of December came mainly just to rest and then move somewhere else. In the later part of December, some challenges were issued, but very few rose up to test their prowess.

Click here to see a video of some of this year's adult male early beahvior.

In regards to the females, first there were none on the birthing beaches, then only a handful could be seen around the middle of the month. Now, as December draws to a close, not only have many very pregnant females shown up on the smaller birthing beaches, but quite a few are also quickly giving birth to their adorable black pups. However, the normally huge numbers of pregnant females are still conspicuously absent from the big birthing beaches where they've always tended to show up first.

Click here to see video of a gentle giant.

The pregnant females that have arrived have had their flippers specially full this month dealing with the many energetic amorous younger males who are looking to mate with anyone of any age they can coerce into it. Interestingly enough, though, the alpha male will, for the most part, let the females show their skill at getting rid of these ardent younger males. Some of these new mothers have proven to be unusually vicious in defending themselves and their pups from unwanted attention this month.

Click here to see video of females in ferocious defense.

Click here to see photos from the past couple of weeks.