In 1990 a lone elephant seal wandered on to the beach just north of San Simeon, on the Californian Coast.
More and more eventually followed (due to overcrowding at rookeries on nearby islands), and 20 years later thousands of seals flock to the same section of beach every year to laze about, play, breed and rest before giving birth -- 5000 babies a year are born on this section of beach alone.
The seals have attracted 1 million tourists to the beach in the past two decades and are also loved by locals, like Greg Glaze (pictured below).
The seals have attracted 1 million tourists to the beach in the past two decades and are also loved by locals, like Greg Glaze (pictured below).
He is a volunteer with Central Coast Friends of the Elephant Seal (http://www.elephantseal.org/) and gives up every Saturday and Sunday to monitor the seals and answer questions from intrigued visitors who admire the seals, free of charge, from specially constructed boardwalks along the beach.
Greg has clocked up more than 1700 hours of service with the environmental group and has a wealth of knowledge about the seals, which grow up to 5 metres long and can weigh as much as 2.3 tonnes. Mature males seals are easily recognised by their long snouts which make them look like elephants.
We knew little about the seals before we arrived at the beach and expected to find only a handful of animals there, so were pleasantly surprised to find hundreds sprawled out like beached whales (they often stop breathing and dramatically lower their heart rate for up to half an hour at a time to conserve energy).
Although the seals were smelly, and noisy (they bark like dogs), they were fascinating to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment