'Tis the season!

Newborn pups in the sand

A few fully mature bulls are on the beach, along with a few pregnant females and a few pups already born. The first pup was born December 10. The second was born December 18, with more following. It’s like popping corn: pop, then pop, then pop pop pop pop pop.

Dominance settles conflict

Elephant seal mothers do an excellent job, under the circumstances. The few mothers who begin the season, with plenty of space around them on the beach, are tempting to young, less dominant males. The attraction is overwhelming, even though the mothers will refuse the males until they come into heat, after they have nursed their pups for a month.

The full-grown beachmasters aren’t imposing discipline on those upstarts yet, but watch for signs of dominance. Although the goal of battling is to establish the dominance hierarchy, once the beachmaster prevails, he can reduce conflict. Just seeing him makes less dominant bulls bustle away.

A young bull approached that first mother and pup, nudging and shoving her around. She got separated from her pup, which can be serious if they aren’t reunited. A pup separated from its mother can lose out on that rich milk, and even die.

The beachmaster rumbled up toward that miscreant, who looked over his shoulder and headed in the other direction. Mother found her pup and all three settled down to a long winter’s nap.

Pups are born night and day

You may be lucky enough to be watching when one is born. Watch for females fussing and tossing a lot of sand. They sometimes toss so much, they build a sort of perch for themselves, with deep ditches dug out on both sides.

Birth starts with a gush of amniotic fluid, as the water breaks.

Wildlife viewing requires patience. Pregnant females will continue to arrive on the beach, into February. Check the live webcam for beach conditions, www.elephantseal.org.

Pups are all black, about three feet long and weigh about 70 pounds when they’re born. They soon plump up on their mothers’ nourishing milk. They’ll nurse for a month. In the last few days of nursing, the mothers mate with one or more males. They wean the pups abruptly when they return to the ocean.

Watch seals from a distance

Bulls that lose out find their way to other local beaches, sometimes called bachelor beaches.

Hearst Memorial Beach at San Simeon Cove attracts them. Human beach visitors may be surprised by a seal among the driftwood.

FES will post guides there for the duration, through March, to advise visitors as to seals they may encounter.

The seals are not aggressive toward humans, but the bulls that come to San Simeon may challenge other bulls to fight on the beach. Human visitors stay safe by giving the seals a wide berth. NOAA Marine LifeViewing Guidelines advise no closer than 50 yards, half a football field. Keep the dog leashed so as not to annoy them. Don’t get between two seals, who may decide to charge each other, or a seal and the water, in case he suddenly decides to go back into the waves.

Informed beach visitors can coexist with the seals. The Piedras Blancas rookery is an example of seals and humans sharing the beach. Stay safe and give the seals time to rest.

 

 

 

Welcome back, bulls!

Time to find out who’s the baddest seal on the beach

The first mature bull elephant seal arrived at Piedras Blancas November 15. “He came in with a whisper,” said Cynthia Coulter, a Friends of the Elephant Seal docent who watched him. He’s the harbinger of the breeding season.

The site is free, open all day, plenty of space to accommodate holiday visitors. Come out and see how many of his cousins have joined him.

The biggest and the toughest

Identify bulls by their noses (technically, proboscis), and chest shields. Fully mature bulls have long noses that have a notch across near the top.  When the seal is lying down, the chest shield wraps around the neck to the level of the eyes or further.

Like the nose, the chest shield starts to develop at puberty and continues to expend throughout the rest of their life.  Though males often attack each other’s neck, the chest shield develops whether or not they fight.

Compare noses and chest shields with other seals on the beach. Some are large individuals, but their shorter, smooth noses and less developed chest shields betray their junior status.

 

Smaller seals are juveniles, still enjoying their fall haul-out rest. They will soon return to the ocean and leave the beach to the breeding seals. They will be at sea, eating and growing, until April and May.

 

Dominance hierarchy

This first arrival will be ready to take on other bulls to establish the dominance hierarchy. Those relationships govern the beach during the breeding season. The bulls will have settled who bests who by the time the pregnant females begin arriving in December, although it may change as bulls fight through March.

The most dominant bulls, at the top of the hierarchy, are most likely to get to breed, so there’s a lot at stake when bulls fight. It’s not just who won, but who gets the prize.

They recognize each other

Bulls learn which ones they have beaten and which have beaten them. Elephant seal researcher Burney Le Boeuf concludes, “It is clear that they have the mental capacity to remember scores of competitors.” They may look a lot alike to us, but each one is an individual to his competitors.

A bull who loses a fight, even if he has been dominant to others, falls way down the hierarchy. He may be so demoralized that he drops out of the competition for breeding for the rest of the season.

Females arrive in December

The females have been feeding and gestating their offspring since May. The first female usually arrived in early December. Her pup was born December 10, at the far south end of the boardwalk. Follow the crowd!