T
here's no mistaking the long and distinctive nose of the male elephant seal.
The seals spend most of their time at sea and then head to land to breed
and molt. Since it's next to impossible to track them in the open water, it's when
they land on the shores of California that you'll be able to witness this incredible
animal migration. They feed in the open ocean as far away as Alaska and Hawaii
and return to their breeding grounds along southern California and Mexico in
December. The adults come back again to molt anywhere from April to August.
There are a few rookeries in California with large populations of elephant seals.
The best spot is the Piedras Blancas rookery near San Simeon where 15,000
seals post up. The Elephant Seal Overlook is another fantastic place to spy on
the antics of the Drakes Beach seal colony at the Point Reyes National Seashore.
Credit: creativex/ Shutterstock
Northern
Elephant
seals
