Home from the Sea

In late November the beaches of California's Ano Nuevo Island start getting crowded. But these quiet beaches, and others like them, are not packed with sunbathers. They are crowded with huge, clumsy blobs of blubber that crawl across the sand like caterpillars the size of hippos.

These furry blobs are male elephant seals. Their floppy trunklike noses give you one clue about how elephant seals got their name. The other clue is their size. The biggest males can weigh as much as 5,000 pounds-more than a minivan! Every winter they return home to California from their favorite fishing spots near the Aleutian Islands in western Alaska, 3,000 miles away.

They look funny on land, as they drag themselves along on their bellies, but they are fast, graceful swimmers. And they can dive deeper than any other type of seal. Some go down almost a mile to get their favorite foods. Their blubber, the thick layer of fat under their skin, helps their bodies withstand the bitter cold and high pressure of the deep, deep sea.

Just like people, seals need to breathe air. But elephant seals can hold their breath underwater for over an hour! They can even sleep under water! While at sea, they dive almost nonstop. For months, the seals dive and eat fish after fish, growing as big and as fat as they can.

Now the male seals have come home to fight. They throw back their heads and roar. They bite and push each other around, protected by the thick skin around their necks and chests. Only the biggest and strongest males will get to mate with the females.

Female elephant seals don't have big, long noses. And they are much lighter than the males. Even the biggest females weigh only about 1,600 pounds. While the males were swimming north along the coast for fish, the females swam west, far out into the Pacific Ocean. They zigzagged from place to place in search of a lighter diet of squid. But they, too, return home to breed.

When they arrive at the beach in December, the females gather together in groups. Within a few days, each female gives birth to a little pup. For four weeks the pups drink their mothers' rich milk. They grow fast, gaining up to 10 pounds a day.

Once their pups are big and fat, the adult seals mate and then go back to the sea. Elephant seals do not eat when they are on land. So, all of them are very hungry and eager to begin the long journey back to their favorite feeding areas.

The pups, now called weaners, stay on shore for two or three more months. They play and paddle around in the water, slowly learning how to swim. Soon they will leave the quiet beaches and begin their first long migration in search of food.

You and your parents can watch elephant seals on the beach at http://www.parks.ca .gov/default.asp?page _id=523.

Copyright Carus Publishing Company Jul/Aug 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved