All stages: newborn, nursing, and weaned
There’s a lot to see at the Piedras Blancas elephant
seal viewpoint in January and February, the breeding season. Pregnant females
arrive at the Piedras Blancas viewpoint beaches daily. They join the mothers
already there, nursing the pups born in the past month. The females congregate
in groups, harems, presided over by a beachmaster, who is vigilant about
defending his rights. Other bulls challenge him. Lots of activity, constant
movement and drama.
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| Two male elephant seal take the battle into the ocean |
Pups
The first ones born, in December, are already being
weaned, and their mothers leave on their short migration. Gingerbread, the
first pup born December 12, is a fat weanling.
Weaned pups congregate in groups called pods, out of
the main breeding areas, along the base of the cliffs. Look for rotund seals
shedding black fur. They shed the black coat they were born with after they are
weaned. They grow their first countershaded coat, darker brown on the back and
lighter on the belly.
As the mothers wean their pups, after nursing for
about a month, they come into estrus, heat, and are receptive to breeding.
That’s when the beachmaster’s wait, since arriving on the beach in November or
December, is rewarded.
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| This mother is ready to wean her pup. |
Females mate with bulls before they leave the beach.
Mating can be noisy, with the female barking and flapping around. Other bulls
may take interest and chase the bull attempting to breed. Fights break out. One
vicious battle last weekend went from beach to the ocean, with both bulls
eventually returning to the beach, although with more separation between them.
The seals mate on the beach, X-rated. The most
dominant bulls get to breed, but they are regularly challenged by other bulls.
That’s when they may come to battle.
Beachmasters at the top
They fight for dominance. The most dominant bulls, the
beachmasters, have breeding rights with the females, usually a harem of about
30 at Piedras Blancas. Researchers estimate that only about one percent of
males born ever get to breed. So there’s a lot at stake.
Each bull has a unique call. Bulls
recognize each other by call much more readily than by sight.
Bulls
approaching one another bellow to show the other who they are. If dominance has
been
established,
watch one bull back away. If the bulls are strangers they will continue to
approach. They may rear up to show their size, but if neither backs off it will get physical until dominance is determined.
That helps them avoid battling bulls they
have fought before. Once a match is settled, the bulls accept that result and
avoid each other in future. If they’ve fought before, no need to fight again.
They establish themselves in the dominance hierarchy. A bull may remember as
many as 50 opponents. They can remember who beat who for years.
Dominance interactions are clear to see from the
bluff. The dominance hierarchy actually helps reduce conflict on the beach, by
settling conflicts before they come to a fight. One bull challenges another,
and one of them backs down.
Fighting uses a lot of energy. These seals
need to be able to survive, and fight and mate, for 100 days or longer, relying
only on their blubber, without food. Having a lot of blubber helps, but
eventually any seal will be depleted. Conserving energy extends the range of a
seal’s vitality during the breeding season.
Sneaking into the harem
It’s a tough time for the bulls. Dominant beachmasters
have to be vigilant. Look for “sneaker” bulls, who hang around the fringes of
the harem. They seem to camouflage themselves among the mothers, who are busy
with their pups. They are attuned to the beachmaster, waiting for his attention
to be diverted by a direct challenge. As he galumphs across the beach in
battle, the sneaker bull moves forward among the females and tries to mate.
Females typically bellow and complain, but the
beachmaster may be too deeply involved in the battle to respond.
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| This female looks back at the bull who is approaching her. |
Less dominant bulls may leave the breeding beach
entirely. In past years, they have come to rest on other local beaches, but
this year some are taking refuge on the north beach at the rookery. It’s been
fully inundated during high tides, so few pups are born there. It’s a beach
these defeated bulls can have to themselves. When a beachmaster is defeated, he
loses all status, and drops to the bottom of the hierarchy.
Pups carry on
In the midst of this conflict, pups need to nurse to
gain weight and grow. They may get separated from their mothers. They may
starve if they can’t find each other and reunite. Pups separated from their
mothers may find another mother willing to let them nurse. About 80 percent of
pups nurse on more than one mother before they are weaned.
Last weekend, we watched one pup search for his
mother, dragging himself along the beach. One mother turned and bit him on the
head, then the body, as he squealed in fright and pain. He moved on, and
another mother bit him. He called and called, and eventually a female recognized
his bark, and came thundering up the beach. They touched noses and settled down
together.
The connection seemed a bit uncertain, and those of us
watching hoped that the pair would stay together.
One pup at a time
Elephant seal mothers have only a single pup. Since
they don’t eat while they are nursing, they don’t have adequate reserves to
feed multiple pups. It’s common for pups to nurse on mothers other than their
own, though. Some mothers tolerate it better than others. Often mothers have
several pups around them. Only one is hers.
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| She can't be mother to both, but she seems accepting. |
Mothers whose pups don’t survive may adopt a pup, or
at least be willing to let a hungry one nurse. The experience may help inexperienced
mothers become better mothers.
Not all pups survive, and mothers sometimes fight over
a pup. Mothers without a living pup still have milk, so there’s a net surplus
of milk on the beach. The milk changes as the pup develops, so mothers and orphan
pups may be mismatched. Pups and mothers need to find each other despite the
confusion.
Drama on the beach
Although conflict and chaos churn across the beach,
the seals find enough peace to accomplish their birth and mating season. It’s a
time of unfolding drama, from one crisis to the next.
One foggy morning, I met up with a Facebook
photography group, The Nature Photography Group of the Central Coast, to learn
how to take better photos and provide the photographers with pointers about
what the seals are doing. Check out their Facebook page for more photos.
Several visitors from the Morro Bay Bird Festival also
visited the bluff. One pointed out an Ancient Murrelet floating over and under
the waves, so named for the white feathers circling its head, like the laurel
wreath of ancient Roman statemen. This tiny bird dives underwater to catch
fish.
Always something new to see along the coast, part of
the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Take lots of pictures, and bring
home those stories to tell.
Christine Heinrichs is the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council SLO At-Large member. Her elephant
seal column won first place from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists
in 2024. Follow her on Facebook, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and Substack.