Elephant Seals ~ San Simeon, California

“He does exist!”

“They do exist!”

~ M&M’s and Santa Clause

Did you know?

There are seals off the California Coast that have an “elephant trunk” looking snout?!?

Ya, I didn’t either until I traveled to San Simeon! 

I’m a big fan of most things’ nature but my absolute favorite part is the ocean. 

I’m pretty sure every time I go there, something amazing happens.

I’ll come across a beautiful seashell, a fully intact sand dollar, a starfish; or better yet, I’ll get to hang with the seals and sea lions or watch the whales!!

According to The Tribune, a San Luis Obispo news source, Piedras Blancas is the largest mainland elephant seal rookery on the planet! And, it’s home to more than 20,000 elephant seals!

For those of you asking what the heck a rookery is, it’s a colony of breeding animals, so ya, Piedras Blancas is basically one big mating ground.

Anyway, when I first traveled through the area, I had no idea what wonderful things were in store for me. 

This is good news for you too!

Now you’ll know exactly where to go if you want to see some elephant seals, and in just a little bit, I’m going to tell you when you should go, but before I do that … let me drop some elephant seal knowledge on you.

Fun Facts about the Elephant Seal:

• They got their name because their large nose looks like an elephant’s trunk.
  • Only adult males have this trunk nose.
  • Their elephant trunk nose won’t start developing until they’re three to five years old and it won’t be fully developed until they’re seven to nine years old.
  • All pups and adult females have a regular seal nose

• There are two known species of elephant seals, northern and southern
  • Northern
    • Are found in the North Pacific and can be seen anywhere from Baja California, Mexico to the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands
    • They are the largest seal in the northern hemisphere, and would be the largest seal in the world, if it weren’t for the southern elephant seal
  • Southern
    • Enjoy the cold conditions found in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters
    • Are the largest of all the seals in the world, with adult males weighing up to 8,800 pounds and growing to over 20 feet in length!

• They spend most of their life together at sea
  • They can stay submerged for up to two hours
  • They descend to 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.
  • When they do surface, it will be for about four minutes and then they’ll dive back down into the abyss.

On one of my visits I was able to spend the whole day watching the females on the beaches with their pups and it was lovely!

Well that’s about it, I’ve covered a lot of information in a short time and I don’t want to keep you too much longer, so I’ll break down the time frames when you can expect to see these amazing creatures and what they’ll be doing when you see them. 

Winter – The Birthing and Breeding Season

December

• Adult males arrive at their breeding beaches.

January

• Females arrive
  • They mate with their dominant male and then return to the sea, OR
  • They give birth to the babies they’ve been carrying the past eleven months, nurse them, then find their dominant male to mate with and finally return to the sea.

February & March

• Weaned pups stay behind to practice their swimming and feeding.  They’ll feed on fish, squid and the occasional small shark.

Spring & Summer – The Catastrophic Molting Season

April – August

• The seals will return to the rookery for the molting process.
  • During the molting process they basically sluff off the old to bring in the new and it’s a totally healthy and normal process.
  • The females, juveniles and adult males molt at different times but they’ll all molt for a few weeks before heading back out to sea.
    • The females will molt in the spring, juveniles get early summer and the adult males take late summer.

Fall – The Haul-Out

September – November

• The seals too young to breed will haul-out to rest in the rookery and practice being a seal.

There you have it, that’s everything I’ve learned about these amazing creatures so far.

Until next time, Peace!

Sources: National Geographic, National Parks Service, Marine Mammal Center