Where to find seals in monterey

Elephant seals return to specific beaches to mate during the winter months. The males — some of which can weigh more than a minivan — arrive first.

They fight to assert their dominance and impress any newly-arrived females that might be watching. The competition to mate is fierce, but so are male elephant seals. As the number of elephant seals continues to rise, some beaches frequented by elephant seals are getting overcrowded.

Disturbance by humans may force seals to use precious energy that is needed for survival. Pups may be separated from their mothers, often leading to their death. The National Marine Fisheries Service, the Federal agency responsible for enforcing the Marine Mammal Protection Act, recommends a safe viewing distance of 50 to feet.

If seals are looking at you, you may be too close! Art Galleries. Big Sur Chamber of Commerce. Real Estate. Site Map. Contact Us. Hunted nearly to extinction for their oil-rich blubber, elephant seals have made a remarkable comeback. Protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, they are expanding their range outward from remote islands and are now colonizing selected mainland beaches such as Piedras Blancas in the southern range of Big Sur, near San Simeon.

Once hunted nearly to extinction for their blubber, they've staged a remarkable comeback. Usually found in or near kelp forests, sea otters dine on invertebrates such as snails, crabs, octopuses, urchins, and abalone, often using small rocks to crack open hard-shelled prey.

Lacking blubber, they burn calories quickly and eat up to 25 percent of their body weight a day. Sea otters rest by wrapping themselves in kelp to keep from drifting away.

To keep their thick fur waterproof, they spend hours grooming. Females give birth to one pup, usually between January and March. Pups stay with their mothers for about six months. Sea otters were hunted to near-extinction for their fur in the s and s. Their population has grown slowly over the years and is still threatened by oil spills, pollution and disease. Playful and loud, California sea lions pack together on rocks, jetties, docks or under wharves.

They come in a variety of colors; all have dog-like heads without external ears. They enjoy basking in the sun at low tides. Pups are born on local beaches. Northern Fur Sea Callorhinus ursinus is almost entirely restricted to oceanic waters in Monterey Bay and offshore, and almost never seen near land. Small numbers migrate from Alaskan breeding grounds in fall and winter to forage in deep, pelagic waters; they are presumably excluded from nearshore areas by the larger California Sea Lions.

At sea, they are identified by the combination of long ears, long whiskers, more pointed snout, and the habitat of dozing on the surface in a 'jug handle' position, with the hind flippers and front flippers pulled out of the water to touch each other. They were hunted voraciously for their thick fur in past centuries, and numbers have never totally rebounded.

Huge males battle for mating rights to harems of smaller females.