The titans return!

Adult bulls throw their weight around

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article276817486.html 

The full-grown elephant seal bulls are returning to Piedras Blancas for their summer break from foraging in the ocean. As one bull arrived on the beach, he cleared females, juveniles, and one subadult bull from his path as soon as he arrived.

This video, posted to the Friends of the Elephant Seal YouTube channel, Look who's here for the summer molt at Piedras Blancas! - YouTube, is edited from his first ten minutes on the beach

by Kathy Curtis, president of the FES board. If it seems like he is taking a long time to

secure his place on the beach, remember he hasn’t used his land muscles for three months or more, and now weighs several hundred pounds more than when last on land.

Displacement, making other seals move out of his way, is a measure of dominance. He makes it clear who is dominant on this stretch of beach!

Dominance helps bulls settle their status without having to fight. Summer is a good time for visitors to observe these senior bulls at rest.

Molting

This bull is one of the first to arrive for a few weeks on the beach, to molt his skin. Some adult females and juveniles linger on the beach, completing their molt. They will leave on their next migration, leaving the beach to the bigger bulls for the summer.

Elephant seals molt their skin annually. The old brown and tan skin peels off in chunks, revealing the new skin underneath. New hairs are just beginning to grow, so the skin is gray. As the hair grows, the color becomes brown.

The upper layer of skin is new, but old scars remain. Look for the skin to begin peeling off around the eyes and old scars.

FES docents have samples of the bristly molted skin. Ask to see and touch it. Some describe it as feeling like Astroturf. Elephant seals don’t have the lush fur of some other seals and otters. Elephant seals rely on their blubber, not their fur, for warmth.

Female migration

Adult females leave to go on their long migration of the year. They’ll spend the next seven months feeding at sea. They are pregnant with the next generation.

The embryo conceived after they weaned their pups last winter has been suspended since then. Now, after they finish molting, it begins developing. They will return in winter to give birth.

Juvenile migration

Juveniles leave the beach for a shorter migration, returning in the fall for their annual Haul-Out.

Juvenile migrations are less studied than adults, so Heather Liwanag, and her Team Ellie at the Vertebrate Integrative Physiology (VIP) Lab at Cal Poly have been tagging weaned pups and tracking them on their first migration to see where they go.

They knew to head north. Some ventured much further than others. Check out the maps showing their routes at Satellite Tags 2023 — VIP Lab (calpoly-viplab.com) and Satellite Tags 2022 — VIP Lab (calpoly-viplab.com). Try out the zoom and measurement features of the map. 

Light Station Open House

Piedras Blancas Light Station will be open free, July 5 and 19 and August 2 and 16, 10 am -2 pm. Hike in from the north parking lot of elephant seal viewpoint Boucher Trail trailhead or from the Boucher Trail trailhead a mile north of the lighthouse.

Observe the elephant seals from several other vantage points along the trail.

For more information, check the website Hike In Open House - Piedras Blancas Light Station or email PiedrasBlancasTours@gmail.com.