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Thursday, October 4, 2012

Video: California Elephant Seals Fighting

One of the best places to see elephant seals in California is on one of the beaches at the Point Reyes National Seashore. The seals seen here are actually northern elephant seals. My wife and I visited the San Francisco area back in July and were about to take a few elephant seals pictures as well as this long shot video of them fighting. The footage starts off with some shots of us passing under the Golden State Bridge while heading twenty four miles out into the ocean to look for blue whales (we saw two, sorry no pictures). 



How big are elephant seals? I know it’s hard to tell in the video since we were so far away so here is a picture from the Marine Mammal Center which has a replica you can stand next to. As you can see, these pinnipeds are massive. In fact, a bull elephant seal can weigh up to 5400 pounds. Do you know they can hold their breath for over 100 minutes?

how big are elephant seals

Where do elephant seals live? The ones pictured live along the California coast. These magnificent creatures are highly endangered because the elephant seal habitat it being destroyed by humans.

While in California, we took the opportunity to visit the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.

-Nick
In Awe of Nature