Congratulations, Its A Tail!

Its A Tail!

Originally uploaded by Dawn Endico.

Last January I got to see four elephant seal births. I was really lucky to see the first one. The mom was close to the surf, and pretty far from me. I had no idea that she was in labor and just happened to be looking out that direction when I caught a big wet 'sploosh'. Wow!

After that, I went back to the other end of the beach where there were a bunch of cows waiting to give birth, and several people watching and trying to figure out which ones were in labor.

Someone noticed that this one was about to give birth when she lifted up her tail and there was a tiny little black tail sticking out too. Two more births followed this one around sunset but it was too dark for pictures.

If you watch the slideshow at high speed you can pretend its a movie of the birth.

Bull Roar

Point Piedras Blancas

A short clip showing the unique roar of an adult bull Northern Elephant Seal. You can hear these guys from a mile away. Video shot near San Simeon, California in February 2003.

Download: Bull Roar, 2.5MB, 18 seconds

Go Away, Kid

Elephant Seal Pup

Now on his own, an elephant seal pup is rebuffed as he tries to make friends. Taped at the elephant seal rookery at Point Piedras Blancas, near San Simeon California in February 2003.

I think this pup had been recently weaned. I'm not sure if he wanted a replacement mom and a good meal or was just looking for a piece of real estate to call home.

This is my first time using internet archive and mp4. Let me know how well this works. I believe the mp4 should work in any modern media player. It works for me on Mac in quicktime and Realplayer 10. I think it should work on windows in either of those apps plus Windows Media Player.

Download: Go Away, Kid, 27.1MB, 10 minutes