Weaners on the beach

 

It’s weaner season!

Mostly, it’s weaners on the beach now. They look so perfect, in their new skin, unmarred by the rigors of ocean life. A few ult bulls remain, thin from three months without food on the beach. Everyone is resting.

Many weaners have nursed up to a healthy layer of blubber, which will sustain them until the leave the beach on their first migration. The high tides, including three King Tides, and high surf disrupted life on the beach this year. Storm Orlena in January, battered the beach with heavy rain and high wind for three days. Pups who get separated from their mothers may starve and die. Gulls and vultures clean up the remains.

Looking good

Seal pups, born from December through February, are born black, but they molt that newborn coat after they are weaned at four to six weeks old. Their new, mature, perfect skin is darker brown on top, light tan on the belly. Their skin will never look better.

The color pattern is called countershading, a common ocean camouflage. Predators swimming below them see the light belly blending with the bright surface above. Those swimming above the seal see the dark back blending into the dark depths.

Learning to hold their breath and swim

Weaners spend most of their time sleeping. They stir themselves to venture into the surf, practicing holding their breath. As they exercise their flippers by splashing around in the water, some of that blubber becomes muscle. They are preparing for their first migration.

They splash around mostly at night, although you may see some in the water during the day, especially in the morning. They are preparing for their life deep in the ocean, where light doesn’t penetrate.

One by one, they leave the beach, heading north. No one shows them the way. It’s one of the mysteries of animal migration. Some may get as far north as Alaska, but most don’t get that far.

Adults are out in the ocean

A few mature bulls remain on the beach, resting after an exhausting breeding season. They may have gone as long as 100 days without food, so they are thin and tired. They will feed and gain blubber on their migration and return in July and August.

Mother seals are out at seas, feeding, on their short migration, to return soon to molt. Some adult females and juveniles are already on the beach, preparing to molt.

San Simeon Cove

The bulls that frequented San Simeon Cove are gone.

Weaner pups who have left their birth beach but haven’t gotten very far strand at San Simeon Cove and other beaches. If they are underweight and exhausted, they may be rescued by a Marine Mammal Center team. This is the busy season for seal rescue.

Seals are thus far unaffected by coronavirus, but wildlife trafficking in other species is thought to be the source of the coronavirus crossover into human infection. Seals can carry other diseases that can affect humans and dogs, so if you see one on the beach, don’t go near it or touch it. Call the Marine Mammal Center operations center in Morro Bay at (805) 771-8300. They will send out a team to evaluate it and rescue it if necessary.