January 2014
Piedras Blancas Northern Elephant Seal Rookery
Central Coast of California
It's birthing time for the northern elephant seals.
Pregnant mothers make a 2500 mile swim to this beach so that they can give safe birth to their pup.
 |
| This pregnant female just arrived or "hauled out" | | |
|
|
|
Each mother gives birth to just one pup. The pup weighs about 60 or 80 pounds at birth.
 |
| Pups are born with soft, black fur. |
|
Mother northern elephant seals provide some of the richest milk around for their pups. The pup must gain about 10 pounds each day for four weeks.
 |
| Pups gain 10 pounds a day from Mom's milk! |
See how much this pup grew in just a few weeks!
 |
| This fella hasn't missed a meal in about 3-weeks. |
|
The mothers and pups live in a "harem" -- or with 20-40 other females and pups and one big adult male.
 |
| See the big male on the right side. |
|
The adult male is about the size of a small pickup truck. He spends most of his time foraging near the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. But now he'll spend about 90 days with the females and pups.
 |
| The big male vocalizing | | |
|
 |
| Can you tell the difference between the male, female & pup? | . |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment