Though some elephant seals can be seen at the park all years, it is most popular from December through March when a large number of the pinnipeds show up for for mating and bearing young. To protect the enormous mammals, and the people who come to see them, the wildlife protection area of the park is open only through naturalist guided walks at that time of year.
In addition to seals, we also saw some sea otters bobbing in the ocean on the south side of the peninsula.
Male elephant seals arrive in early December to establish a breeding hierarchy and are followed in late Decmber by the females, who join the harems of the dominant males. Bull elephant seals are enormous, reaching lengths of 16 feet and weighing close to 2.5 tons. Females are much smaller, at 1,200 - 2,000 pounds. These animals, the largest members of the seal family, seem awkward on land, but they are excellent swimmer, able to stay at sea for 8 months out of the year and dive as deep as 5,000 feet.
TO GET THERE... The park entrance is west of Highway 1 about 19 miles north of Santa Cruz and about 23 miles south of Half Moon Bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment