On 1/27/2011 1:20 PM, Andrew Fildes wrote:
> Actually it's almost always tomorrow for some of us - as far as you rather
> backward lot are concerned.
> That looks like a very nice outing indeed. Is that a Sea Lion bull?
Elephant seal. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_seal>
Monsters, compared to sea lions and harbor seals, the other kinds found around
here.
Male Elephant seal ~= 2,700 kg, 5 m.
Female elephant seal ~= 900 kg, 3 m.
Male sea lion ~= 850 kg, 2.4 m.
Sea lions and Harbor seals are permanent residents hereabouts.
Elephant seals drop by in midwinter for procreation. They haul up on beaches
isolated from people. The females give
birth; the males wait impatiently. As soon as the pups are weaned, the next
cycle of mating begins. Then all are off to
spend most of the year at sea. There were a few males hustling females with
older pups, but nothing serous yet in the
Pt. Reyes Chimney Rock colony yesterday. The males were making some of their
amazing noises with those snouts.
You can hear the beaches form some distance. Sounds like a big party going on.
Just like humans, there was also at least
one quiet beach a ways away. Immature adults, I suppose.
Sea lions have much more developed front fins that allow them to get around
pretty well on land, including climbing
surprisingly far up rocky islands and, of course to act as circus performers.
Yup, all circus "seals" are sea lions.
Harbor seals can sort of wriggle up a shallow beach, but are pretty much
helpless on land. They often find a perch at
high tide and settle in through low tide, to be refloated at the next high
tide. These, for example, almost certainly
didn't climb up, but came in at high tide. They can wriggle around and slide
down before the next tide, if necessary.
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/Monterey%20-%20June%202006/Point%20Lobos/slides/_MG_0276.html>
They look a great deal like female elephant seals, but on a smaller scale.
Moose
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