{"id":320,"date":"2019-07-16T08:05:51","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T15:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.russbishop.com\/blog\/?p=320"},"modified":"2020-09-04T14:58:36","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T21:58:36","slug":"elephant-seals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/russbishop.com\/blog\/elephant-seals\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Elephant Seals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Northern<\/a>
Northern elephant seals at Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris), or sea elephant,\u00a0ranges from the Pacific coastal waters\u00a0of Canada\u00a0to the tip of Baja, Mexico. It is the largest of the fin-footed mammals and with males\u00a0typically weighing up to 6000 lbs it exceeds the walrus in size.\u00a0Though they were hunted to the brink of extinction\u00a0toward the end of the nineteenth century, their numbers have steadily increased in recent years due to protection from both the US and Mexican governments.<\/p>\n

Elephant seals feed on fish and squid or other cephalopods and spend upwards of 80 percent of their lives in the ocean.\u00a0They can hold their breath for nearly two hours and\u00a0dive\u00a0as deep as\u00a02,000 feet\u00a0in search of food. During the three month breeding season, bulls fight to establish territories along beaches and to acquire harems of up to 40 cows.<\/p>\n

These juveniles are part of a large rookery\u00a0at one of several\u00a0pocket beaches near San Simeon on the Central California coast. As part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary this colony has grown exponentially since the early 1990s, and a well-designed series of boardwalks, interpretive signs and docents offer a unique wildlife experience for anyone visiting the area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9Russ Bishop\/All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris), or sea elephant,\u00a0ranges from the Pacific coastal waters\u00a0of Canada\u00a0to the tip of Baja, Mexico. It is the largest of the fin-footed mammals and with males\u00a0typically weighing up to 6000 lbs it exceeds the walrus in size.\u00a0Though they were hunted to the brink of extinction\u00a0toward the end of the nineteenth … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Northern Elephant Seals”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpmdr_menu":1,"wpmdr_menu_extended":{"individualPostRemove":1,"individualPostRemoveDate":1,"individualPostRemoveAuthor":1,"individualPostYoastRemovePublished":1,"individualPostYoastRemoveModified":1},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,80],"tags":[65,15,81,67,82,80],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature-photography","category-wildlife","tag-big-sur","tag-california","tag-elephant-seal","tag-monterey-bay-national-marine-sanctuary","tag-san-simeon","tag-wildlife"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t