by SAN OLSON
Special to the Sounder
As a Marine Mammal Stranding Network volunteer, I received a neighbor’s call one late January morning about a large seal on one of our southern beaches. Since most of our calls come in the summer and usually involve harbor seal pups, I knew this was likely to be an unusual encounter.
Sure enough it was a large seal, about 275 pounds, and not a harbor seal. It was a young male elephant seal who had chosen a secluded corner of the beach to undergo his catastrophic molt. Yes, molting is a term usually reserved for birds, not marine mammals.
It turns out that elephant seals do undergo a complete change of hair and the outer layers of skin once a year, usually in the spring or summer.
Lopez Elephant Seal (LES), as the observer crew named him, was way out of season and he looked horrible, with patches of hair gone and crusts around his eyes and nose. He smelled just as unpleasant as he looked.
Elephant seals occasionally use San Juan County beaches during molt, but most prefer the warmer climates of Mexico or California. So not only was our guy confused about his calendar, he had not consulted Google Maps or a guide to California’s best singles beaches.
Nonetheless, he was ours to protect and observe for as long as he remained. Elephant seals stay ashore during molt, deriving calories from their blubber and create all the water they need from fat metabolism.
Fasting for long periods on shore is not unusual; females fast for three to four weeks while nursing pups and lose about 40 percent of their body mass.
On breeding beaches, adult males are way too busy defending territory and their harem to eat, but they have ample reserves, as they typically weigh around 4,000 pounds.
LES could have been born in California or on a birthing beach at Race Rocks (the most northerly elephant seal rookery). He is probably old enough to have participated in his first migration to the Aleutian Islands, a semi-annual 5,000 mile round trip made by males (females are smarter, they travel to northern Hawaiian waters). Most of his trip would have been spent underwater, continuously diving to depths of 1800 feet with very short surface intervals. At that depth there is almost total darkness and he would be using his large eyes, long whiskers and the bioluminescence of prey to find deep dwelling animals such as squid, eels, rays or shrimp. Elephant seals make this migration twice a year, returning to their birth beaches in the winter to deliver and nurse pups, and mate. They return to the beaches again in the summer to molt.
He remained on the beach for just over two weeks, until a high tide and a strong storm surge probably induced him to depart. LES had a distinguishing laceration on his right upper back, perhaps from a propeller encounter, so if you see him, or want to report a live or dead stranded marine mammal, call the Marine Mammal Hotline at 800-562-8832. We sure would like to see how this deep diver is faring.
San Olson is a retired veterinarian and lives on Lopez Island. For more information about LES or to become a marine mammal stranding volunteer, contact Amy Traxler at the Whale Museum, 378-4710.
