- I'm Coyote Peterson, this is Dr. Patrick Robinson
and today we're going to be taking you up close
with a true survivor who was one of the greatest
comeback stories in marine mammal history.
The elephant seal.
(jungle themed music)
In the late 1800's the California coast line
probably looked a lot like this.
As far as the eye could see epic sandy beaches
and crashing ice blue waves.
But in those days, what you probably didn't see
was an elephant seal
one of the largest carnivorous pinnipeds in the ocean.
By 1910 it was estimated that as few as 100
of these majestic marine mammals were left.
Hunted to near extinction so that their blubber
could be used to fuel our oil lamps.
Today the beaches look different, much different
because the giants have made a comeback.
Today I will be heading off trail into Ano Nuevo State Park
with marine mammal expert Dr. Patrick Robinson.
Armed with a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
he is a team member of The Costa Lab
and for the past decade has been researching marine
predators and how they survive in the open oceans.
While all animals of the ocean fascinate him
his true love lives in monitoring the now flourishing
population of Northern Elephant Seals
that call the Ano Nuevo coastline their home.
Over my shoulder here you can see there's
a bunch of elephant seals down there by the tide.
We're gonna get off trail, get up close,
get you right there with the elephant seal.
This was about to be my first time ever getting up close
with a pinniped in the wild.
So, what is a pinniped, you ask?
Well, to keep it simple, it's a true seal.
This includes Sea Lions, Fur Seals,
Walruses, and Elephant Seals.
They are carnivorous marine mammals with fin like limbs,
they breathe air but spend most of their lives at sea.
In the case of elephant seals they only return to land
twice a year, once to give birth and mate,
and another time to shed their outer fur and skin
which is called molting.
When we finally made it to the shoreline
it was unbelievable.
Seals as far as the eye could see.
Alright so Patrick, as we came around that curve there
now I can see up ahead of us what looks like
hundreds of these elephant seals.
How many would you guess are out here right now?
- [Patrick] Probably 300 to 400 seals?
- [Coyote] Wow, it is incredible.
I see some youngsters up here, looks like they're sparring.
We've got a bunch of others down here playing in the water.
What age group are we looking at here?
- These are all juvenile animals,
probably young of the year, one, two, and three year olds.
- [Coyote] Okay, alright so on a day to day basis
you come out here and it's amazing you get to witness
all these seals just hauled out on the beach.
What are you actually out here doing?
- Most of the time we're out here just looking for
tiny flipper tags that we put in their flippers
with unique identification numbers. - [Coyote] Uh huh.
- [Patrick] The goal is to track individuals throughout
their entire lifetime and understand
more about their biology.
How long they live.
How often they give birth.
Things like that.
Most of the time we're out here walking as close
to the animals as we can without disturbing them
to try to look at those flipper tags.
- [Coyote] Searching for flipper tags
and confirming identities is certainly important
however The Costa Lab also fits select animals
with a variety of different satellite tags and transmitters
to record the distances these animals travel
and the depths to which they dive and hunt.
Now, they're deep divers, correct?
- Very deep, yeah. - How deep down do they go
looking for their food? - [Patrick] They can go
as deep as about a mile. - [Coyote] Wow!
- [Patrick] On average between about 500 and 550 meters.
- [Coyote] Uh huh. - [Patrick] Just incredible,
incredible depth.
- How long can they actually hold their breath for?
- Well, we put out these timed depth recorder tags
so we can measure that very precisely
On average they're diving about 23 minutes in duration.
They can go up to nearly two hours without a breath.
- That's crazy!
And what are they eating that they're finding a mile down
in the ocean?
- [Patrick] We think it's a mixture of fish and squid
although these are current research topics.
We have a PhD student who's actively interested
in that question and she'll be publishing her results soon.
- [Coyote] That's very cool.
This was not the right time of year to be tagging any seals
but lucky for me it was the right time to stamp a seal.
Believe it or not, stamping a seal
is exactly as it sounds.
Once the seals flipper tag number has been spotted
and recorded the research team then writes this number
with a basic hair dye on a wooden stamp.
This dye will last for about six months
and makes it much easier for the animals
to be identified from a distance.
Only seals that are singled out from the harem
can be stamped.
The reason is that this causes as little disturbance
to the animals as possible.
Round one, shadowing Patrick
and as you can see he was in total stealth mode
when it came to his stamping methods.
(orchestral music) (seal grunting)
Feat not, absolutely no harm comes to the seals
from this identifying technique.
Just a brief startle, and then it's back to nap time.
Round two, now it was my turn.
With a large seal identified and targeted
we slowly crept up.
The technique is to move slow, stay low,
and make as little noise as possible,
If you startle a group of seals
they will quickly flee toward the water
and then the mission is considered a wash.
The coast was clear and Patrick gave me the thumbs up
that meant it was go time.
(orchestral music)
And just like that
I successfully marked my first elephant seal.
7673
you are officially identified for the season
and I think I'll name you Snoozer.
Over the past century the elephant seal has benefitted
from some incredible conservation efforts
such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.
Today there are over 100,000 of these beautiful animals
thriving on the west coast of North America.
The research being done by Dr. Patrick Robinson
and his colleagues at The Costa Lab
continues to bring forward new and incredible findings
about the life and survival of this species.
Ultimately providing greater protection
and continued growth for an animal
that was once nearly hunted to extinction.
To learn more about the research
and conservation work that The Costa Lab is doing
make sure to visit their website
where you can get involved with the survival
of our ocean's marine mammals.
If you thought that was one wild adventure
check out the time I visited The Ohio Wildlife Center.
And don't forget, subscribe to join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
(animal sounds)