Año Nuevo: Sex, Fights and a Raucous Roll

By Stefan Marti
Published: January 2007

Bull elephant seals battling. Credit: PBS

Every winter thousands of northern elephant seals haul their heavy bodies out of the frigid Pacific to join the dry land festivities of birthing and mating season. Hundreds of seals climb out onto the shores of the Farallon Islands, while others seek the secluded beaches of Point Reyes National Seashore. However, the best place in the Bay Area to view these massive elephant-trunk seals is at Año Nuevo State Reserve, 1.5 hours south of San Francisco.

The first seals show up in late December and by mid January the Año Nuevo shores are in full swing with thousands of females baking in the sun, giving birth to 70-pound pups. Meanwhile, males are establishing their harems and mating dominance by honking thunderous sounds from their fleshy hooked noses. If the loud vocal threats are not enough to discourage prospecting males, ferocious fights ensue. Males rear up using their flippers and slam down on each other’s chests, ripping holes in their chest shields, spraying blood on the sand and in the water. These are not battles to the death, but fights to gain access to a harem of females. After the battle, the dominant or “alpha” bull chases away the loser and protects his beach from other intruding males.

The losing males are often younger adults and hang around on the outskirts of a harem, trying to sneak in for a “quickie” while an alpha bull is distracted. However, this is extremely difficult for the females will protest with loud shrieks until the alpha bull chases away the interloper.  Hence, there is an area to the south of the point with only smaller males aptly named “Loser Beach”

However, alpha males do not remain with their harem the entire season. After a few weeks, they will relinquish their harem and return to the sea for food.  If they remain an alpha for too long, they will be too weakened from battle and lack of food that they will never return to Año Nuevo again.

Lonely Souls

Judging by the madness of flopping blubber at Año Nuevo, one would think that elephant seals are social animals; however, they are solitary creatures. After mating season, they return to the ocean alone. Males swim up north toward the Gulf of Alaska and spend their entire lives at sea alone. Females head out west toward the North Pacific, also alone.

Elephant seals are incredible divers going down 2,500 feet and can hold their breath up to 30 minutes. They migrate over 12,000 miles each year and haul out only twice: once, in summer for molting, and once in winter for birthing and mating. Because they spend most of their time underwater, it is extremely rare to see them at sea.

Seal Pups

Survival is no easy feat for elephant seal pups. They are born at 60-80 pounds and in the next four weeks need to quadruple their weight. In other words, they are nursing intensely, nonstop. However, pups are constantly separated from their mothers, as alpha bulls battle and chase other males away. Although a mother gives birth to only one pup, she often ends up with three or four pups at her side, and only one if any is likely to survive.

After four weeks, the mothers simply swim away, leaving the weaned pups alone on the beach.  For the next 8-12 weeks the pups gather in pods and slowly play in the water and teach themselves how to swim. Eventually, when they are hungry, they thrust themselves into the sea and swim off alone somehow knowing where to go. Every year they will return to the same shore.

Guided Trips

For the next two months, the beaches at Año Nuevo will be alive with boisterous mating elephant seals. They are an incredible sight to see. Docents lead 2.5 hour trips out to the breeding grounds, and reservations must be made prior to going to Año Nuevo State Reserve, especially on weekends. They’ll be gone by the end of March, so go witness the wild celebration just down our coastline.