An Elephant Seal Learns to Swim

Northern Elephant Seal Weaner.
C. Coimbra Photo

Did you know that when a northern elephant seal is born that it cannot swim like most other marine mammals?  

That is one of the reasons why an elephant seal must be born on land.

Did you know that a northern elephant seal pup can gain about 10 pounds a day by nursing on its mother's rich milk?  

Did you know that the pup's mother looses about 20 pounds a day while nursing her pup?

That is one of the reasons why she abandons her pup after just 4 weeks to return to sea.

How does the pup survive?

First, it weighs about 300 pounds when its mother leaves.  Now the pup is a weaner.  It joins other weaners in a "weaner pod" and rests until all the big adult elephant seals are off the beach--sometime near or in March.

Then the weaners play on the beach and in the water and teach themselves how to swim and dive.

When April nears, most of the weaners leave their birth beach and go out to sea for the first time.  They return sometime near September.

This video "Unaga Learns to Swim" shows a newborn pup through the day it finally leaves to go to sea.

Elephant Seal Pups Steal the Show

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?

.

Live Web Cams with Otters, Sharks, Penquins and More

Even if you live thousands of miles from the sea, there are live web cams that you can watch--like the entertaining sea otters at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.  Thanks to a live web cam, a young man recently viewed the first ever video capture of an elephant seal slurping a hagfish at the sea's bottom.

Sea Otter Web Cam

Otters love to play with toys, lounge in ice buckets or just snooze. We feed ours four times a day, often putting the food in toys to stimulate the otters' natural behavior of pounding and working to get food out of shells.

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_otter/otter_cam.aspx

Open Sea Web Cam

You'll see giant bluefin tuna power their way through the water, while hammerhead sharks, pelagic rays and giant green sea turtles swim just inches away.

The stunning one-million-gallon exhibit is home to one of the most diverse communities of open-ocean animals to be found in any aquarium.

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_opensea/open_sea_cam.aspx

Northern Elephant Seals

Watch northern elephant seals throughout the year when they haul out at the Piedras Blancas Rookery in California

http://www.elephantseal.org/Rookery/livecam.htm

Beluga Whale Cam

View the underwater world of the belugas and take an imaginary journey to the Canadian Arctic.

http://www.vanaqua.org/learn/see-and-learn/live-cams/beluga-cam

Jelly Cam

The jellies featured on this Vancouver Aquarium Jelly Cam are Japanese sea nettles. Jellies are invertebrates made up mostly of water. They have no heart, brain or bones

 http://www.vanaqua.org/learn/see-and-learn/live-cams/jelly-cam

Hawaiian Monk Seal

An endangered seal rescued and now resides in this 

Hawaiian aquarium

http://www.waquarium.org/webcams.html

Magellanic Penquin Cam

A temperate species, Magellanic Penguins are usually about two to two-and-a-half feet tall and weigh between six and fifteen pounds when fully grown.

 http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/exhibits/penguin_habitat/penguin_cam_above

Whale Shark Cam

 Whale sharks can grow to 15 meters (50 feet) and weigh as much as 40 tons by some estimates.

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/explore-the-aquarium/interact/web-cams.aspx

Teen is First to Witness Hagfish Slurping

Hagfish

Have you ever met a hagfish? 

I ask that question to kids from around the world when I'm with the elephant seals in California

A 14-year-old from the Ukraine caught an elephant seal snag a hagfish.  It's a first.

What's the big deal?  Well, every scientist I know has NEVER seen an elephant seal eat a hagfish, yet they know that these big seals do like to dine on the slimy, eel-like fish that dwell at the ocean's floor cleaning up dead cetaceans.

Female northern elephant seal with newborn. C. Coimbra photo.

The exciting video is not on You Tube yet.  But this link will amaze you:  Ukrainian teen makes rare discovery

UPDATE:  

 


And amaze your friends with this from BioTechnology:  "One of the world’s creepiest creatures may be the source of new kinds of petroleum-free plastics and super-strong fabrics, according to research by scientists in Canada studying the hagfish, a bottom-dwelling creature that hasn’t evolved for 300 million years and produces a sticky slime when threatened. The gooey material is actually a kind of protein that turns into choking strands of tough fibers when released into the water."

What If There's a Seal on the Beach?

If you visit the beach this summer, you might see a seal on the beach.  What do you do if you see one?

California Sea Lion

Here's a few tips for your safety and the safety of the seal on the beach.

1) All seals are wild animals.  They have very sharp teeth.  Keep far away from seal on the beach.

2) Try to look at the seal with binoculars.

3) Do not touch the seal. 

Monk Seal

4) Do not throw rocks at the seal. 

5) Keep your pet away from the seal.  Keep your dog from barking at the seal.

Steller Sea Lion

6) Don't chase the seal if it is moving around.

7) Be sure that you are not between the seal and the water.  The water is the seal's first escape route.  You could get hurt.

8) Do not try to feed the seal.  Actually, it's a good idea to not feed any wild animals like birds and squirrels.

Elephant Seals

9) All marine mammals in United States waters are protected by law. That's one reason why you should stay away from them.

Harbor Seal

10)  Some sea lions might be sick this summer.  If you see a seal that looks sick, contact an authority. In the United States you can call 1-800-853-1964 and report the seal.