A Chance Encounter with Northern Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas Beach, California

Travelling can often bless you with unexpected pleasures. On our recent road trip down the coast of California from San Francisco to Los Angeles we encountered a number of surprises from glorious views, delightful eateries and then, most wonderful of all, the opportunity to encounter Northern Elephant Seals birthing.

We first spotted the Northern Elephant Seals along the coast on the Cabrillo Highway a few kilometres north of Hearst Castle. There were road signs that clearly forbade us from stopping so we kept driving, a little disappointed that we had missed the seals. They were as huge as a cow and dotted the coast line.

Further along the highway and we came to Piedras Blancas beach which was covered with hundreds of seals. This is no exaggeration. They were everywhere. Females dominated, many with calves at the side. There were a handful of very vocal bulls scattered amongst the population who would make mad dashes towards the females when the opportunity arouse, often oblivious to the pup she was trying to protect. Of course, this lead to both Master R and Miss N asking a plethora of questions.

I’m going to be honest here and admit that I didn’t know much about the Northern Elephant Seal prior to this chance encounter. Thanks to volunteers from Friends of the Elephant Seal who were at the site to answer questions we learned that the seals typically spend 8-10 months of the year at sea only seeking land to birth and mate in December/January and then to moult later in the year.

The pregnant females reach land in December and form harems around an alpha male. At its busiest this beach can host 17,000 animals. Can you believe that? The females birth around a fortnight after arriving. The pups will nurse for 4 weeks, rapidly gaining body fat. The mother will fast the entire time, losing twice as much weight as her pup has gained. After 4 weeks, she will wean her pup, mate repeatedly and then return to the water to feed. She will leave her pup behind who is now ready to fend for himself.

We were blessed to see many seals birth their babies while we watched on. This was an amazing sight and the kids first time seeing a birth. The alpha males were certainly not quiet through this, often rearing their heads and charging at each other to fight. They are incredibly ferocious revealing exactly why visitors should stay behind the barriers.

Want to visit the Elephant Seal rookery? You will find them at the Piedras Blancas rookery, on Highway 1 seven miles north of San Simeon on the California Central Coast.