Los Toros Del Mar~

Feb7

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Northern bull elephant seals weigh up to 5000 pounds and reach up to 16 feet in length! Their Southern counterparts are larger.
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In addition to their size, they are quite bullish in behavior, fighting constantly with other males,

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and forcing themselves on often quite unwilling females,

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who are much smaller than they are.

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On shore they dominate large harems and defend them from other males.
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Male Northern Elephant Seals spend eight months alone at sea. They forage in deep dives 24 hours a day, often at the bottom of the ocean, where other predators are scarce.
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The deepest recorded bull elephant dive was 5788 feet and the longest recorded continuous dive was just over two hours on one breath!

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California male elephant seals forage at the edge of the continental shelf, all the way to the Aleutian islands. Orcas and sharks predate on them and approximately one in three males are killed each year, mainly by orcas.
Cheers to you from the bullish, and amazing, male elephant seals at Piedras Blancas Rookery in California~

Source (and for more information) check out: http://www.elephantseal.org/

212 thoughts on “Los Toros Del Mar~”

  3. I have been to this rookery and you did an excellent job of capturing the immensity of the elephant seals, Cindy. Enjoyed the info too. We are so fortunate that these elephant seals grace our planet. Excellent post, always a treat~~

  4. sinceramente mi fanno paura questi grandi mostri del mare, hai avuto coraggio con riprese così ravvicinate! e le immagini sono fenomenali!
    mille grazie Cindy
    Annalisa

  15. I love Piedras Blancas , Cindy even though I have only been there a few times. It is nature up close and personal. Doesn’t get much better. Great photos as always. –Curt

    • We like many of the same natural spaces my friend. We like these places because they help us to perceive ourselves and the world around us more accurately.
      For me going to these places a lot confirms not only my relative unimportance, but the fact that I am infinitesimal, but connected to a far greater and more important whole.

      Which is such a gigantic relief!
      ❤

  16. Up to 5000 pds! It’s wonderful to have such close look of these creatures. Thank you so much, Cindy for posting these amazing photo captures!

  21. We saw a nature documentary, and one of the episodes involved a hungry bear attacking a pack of bull elephants. These creatures, normally gentle, are dangerous and aggressive creatures if provoked.

  22. The rookery for saving these wild seals. The size and imposition on the poor females probably is more distressing to us than the females which don’t know any better. Or so we hope, Cindy! Sad the babies are lost in the mating moments once in awhile. Take it easy, dear Cindy! ❤ xo

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