Elephant Seal Season is Coming!
Have you ever seen the anatomical wonder that is an elephant seal? Did you know that Cambria (or, rather, San Simeon only 6 miles up the gorgeous Highway One) is home to the largest breeding ground for Northern Elephant Seals in the world? That’s right—every year, right around now, female elephant seals begin their journey to the Central Coast to mate with the gargantuan male elephant seals. The seals spend most of their lives at sea—up to ten months of the year—only coming ashore to mate, to give birth, and once or twice extra as a juvenile pup.
These guys and girls are a sight to see! They are like nothing I’d ever seen before—not in zoos nor in the wild. They can grow to be thousands of pounds (some as large as 5,000 pounds), and up to 16 feet long, and the males have a long “elephant-like” snout (hence the name). These mammals not only spend an extraordinarily long time in the water but also underwater—members of the species are known to dive all the way down to 2,600 feet for periods up to 2 hours. They feed on deep-water prey such as deep water squid, pacific hake, sharks, rays, and even something called a ratfish. And an interesting fact: elephants do not require drinking water, rather they are hydrated through their food and broken down fats.
When the December and January breeding season rolls around, the huge male seals head to the beaches and fight among themselves until they decided on a hierarchy of supremacy. This helps to determine the breeding structure for the year—the winning males will have a harem of female mates while the losing males will not. Several weeks after the males arrive ashore, the females show up. While ashore the females give birth to their babies and care for them for several weeks. After the babies have been weaned (approximately 4 weeks after birth), the females are ready to mate.
The elephant seal is really a remarkable animal and we’re so lucky on the Central Coast that they call San Simeon beach their home! In this world where nature is increasingly pushed aside for concrete and skyscrapers, it’s amazing to see something so wild and wonderful! If you are staying in our hotel in Cambria during the breeding season, I highly recommend that you hop in the car and make the trek up to San Simeon to see the mating elephant seals!
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5620 Moonstone Beach Drive Cambria, CA 93428 |
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