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Every winter, approximately 10,000 elephant seals travel to California’s Año Nuevo State Park to fight, mate and give birth. The spectacle lasts from mid-December to March, attracting wildlife watchers eager to catch a glimpse of the largest seal on earth.
During what park docent Laura Stern calls “pup season,” male seals – some up to 16 feet (4.9 meters) long and weighing 2.5 tons – engage in bloody battles to mate with females.
“So most elephant seals will return to the same beach where they were born. Not all, but most,” Stern said. “About 10,000 elephant seals come to Año Nuevo.”
In the 1800s, elephant seals were hunted to near extinction for their blubber, which was used to refine oil. In 1892, fewer than 100 animals remained on an island off the coast of Baja California.
Recognizing the crisis, Mexican The government provided legal protection to the species in 1922, and soon after USA. Today, the number of seals living in the area is estimated to have increased to 250,000. Pacific Ocean.
“There’s a genetic bottleneck because they all come from the same 30 to 60 years old. But so far, they’re doing really well and we haven’t had any problems,” Stern said.
Año Nuevo State Park, about 90 minutes south of the hotel san franciscoone of the largest continental breeding colonies on the West Coast. During pup season, tourists come in droves to book docent-led hikes so they can watch long-nosed male seals clash on the shore, hear the barks and roars filling the seaside air, and see mother seals nursing their sleek 75-pound (34-kilogram) pups on the dunes.
“It’s really amazing,” said Carrie Kahn, a tourist from the United States. berkeleyCalifornia. “You just wonder, how do they move from point A to point B? They look slow. But they’re fast and big and they chirp and make noise.”
Male elephant seals have the highest testosterone levels of any mammal, Stern said. “So they want to mate, fight, eat, and then hit the repeat button,” she said.
“You’re not in a museum. You’re not in an aquarium. You’re right here watching them live doing what they do,” Stern said.
From April to November, you can visit the seals at Año Nuevo State Park without a tour. During the seal breeding season, visitors must reserve a spot to watch the seals on a guided walking tour. Reservations can be made at www.reservecalifornia.com.