Irate males guffaw loudly through their ginormous proboscises beside dozing female elephant seals who nurse their dark-hued offspring while absorbing solar energy.
Meanwhile, scores of human visitors watch them from the high boardwalk bathed by the same warm sun, and all enjoy a gentle coastal breeze at the Piedras Blancas rookery near Cambria.
Visitors can observe these beautiful creatures without disturbing them on the sandy nursery off Highway 1; all the tourists were respectful and focused on their mammal cousins out sunbathing on the golden strand.
Cambria is a thirsty little seaside town 140 miles north (and west) of Santa Barbara, and mid-winter is a surprisingly good time to saunter around and avoid the spring and summer crowds.
Staying at a bed-and-breakfast in old Cambria, my partner and I eagerly drove the 16 miles north on Highway 1 to see the teeming elephant seals (M. angustirostris).
They have their offspring (pups) generally lying near them, and many were nursing, while others apparently slept and sunned themselves at their enchanting rookery.
These “northern elephant seals” have their pups shortly after they arrive at isolated beaches like the one north of Cambria, and the 75-pound “babies” are already about 4 feet long.
Human visitors differentiate them by their smaller size and their dark hue at birth. After a few months, the fur will turn silver and later a sort of brown.
After the pups have nursed for about a month or so — gaining 10 pounds a day (!) — the mothers go out into the nearby ocean to find food and begin mating with the much-larger males.
Those extra-large bull males have been hanging about, tooting their proboscises madly, and so the cycle of life begins again for these marine mammals.
Male elephant seals can weigh up to 5,000 pounds, and the females are much smaller at around 2,000 pounds at maturity. Interestingly, although humans and elephant seals are both mammals, the “weaners” (as pups are called who no longer nurse) only have “mom” around for about two months at most.
At some point — it hadn’t happened yet when we were observing on Jan. 25 — the mothers abruptly depart. That’s it for mom-hood, and the not-so-little guys are absolutely on their own. Studies show that many of them will provide food for marine predators and won’t grow into massive adulthood.
There is no prolonged “adolescence” for the young elephant seals such as we deem necessary for young humans!
Studying the awed faces of other visitors on the boardwalk viewing area (it runs for longer than a half-mile), my partner and I wondered at the evident deep interest. What is the allure of staring at these organisms?
Lying there exposed on the shore, the huge elephant seals appear ungainly, awkward and even at risk somehow. Were there once land predators, early human hunters?
Most of the breeding rookeries today are on the offshore Channel Islands and not located on the mainland like the rookery above Cambria, or another at Año Nuevo up near Santa Cruz.
Observers find a fascination in their clumsy clambering about, their ridiculous positions on land. Then, we noticed that when an elephant seal wants to move quickly on sand it can do so at surprising speed — but only for a very short distance.
All the elephant seals were within scuttling distance of the ocean, as the photographs show, and could scoot into their safer element in a very short time if dangers threaten them.
The survival of the elephant seal population is also a conservation success story in itself. It’s estimated that in 1910 there were fewer than 100 elephant seals, and all of them in a last colony on Guadaloupe Island off Baja California.
The giant seals were hunted for their blubber, which was rendered into lamp oil in the pre-electricity period. Once the petroleum industry came in, the market for the blubber dropped, and today there are at least 125,000 elephant seals swimming in California waters.
At the same time, seeing these behemoths lounging on warm sand, flipping sand all over themselves and neighbors with the pups nearby presents a truly engaging spectacle. I carefully studied license plates of the parked cars, and there were more than 12 U.S. states represented.
These educated folk want to see the birthing ritual and spectacle of the compelling California elephant seals.
Children usually get caught up in the sandy dramas below, and we spent quite a bit of time watching as a mother searched about for her pup and finally found the right one. (Bring a pair of binoculars.)
Driving and walking around Cambria, you will see portions of original and native Monterey Pine forests, which once covered huge areas in California.
Today, there are only three native Monterey Pine forests left, and this noble species is in trouble and may not recover like the elephant seals have.
My partner and I enjoy staying in the older part of Cambria, or out on Moonstone Beach, and in town we’ve enjoyed the Cambria Historical Museum.
4.1.1.
Driving directions: Drive Highway 101 north past Santa Maria to the Highway 1 turnoff at San Luis Obispo; drive through Morro Bay and continue on Highway 1 until you reach Cambria Pines (141 miles). Click here for more information about elephant seals.
