Movement of weaned northern elephant seal pups
during their first at-sea foraging migration
Weaned elephant seal pup with a satellite tag on her head. Activities performed and image taken under NMFS permit 22187-03.
The northern elephant seal is an amazing marine mammal that embarks on huge foraging migrations each year. Adult males venture all the way up the coast to Alaska, and adult females go hundreds of mile out into open ocean. Despite the extensive knowledge the scientific community has on adult migrations in this species, very little is known about where the pups go when they first leave the beach.
Northern elephant seal pups are typically born in December and January, and they nurse for 4 weeks before they are weaned. After weaning, they remain on the beach for 6-8 weeks, completing their development and occasionally swimming nearshore, or in coastal ponds and rivers. Once they get hungry enough, they leave the beach and venture into the ocean to find food. Our project aims to determine the migration pathways of weaned northern elephant seal pups during their very first foraging migration.
We will be tagging weaned pups at Vandenberg Space Force Base (Lompoc, CA) and at Piedras Blancas (San Simeon, CA). This first year, we tagged 5 seals at Vandenberg.
Meet our seals!
phantom
Date tagged: 04/13/2022
Sex: Female
Mass: 84.2 kg (185.6 lb)
Standard length: 150 cm (4.9 ft)
Phantom was the first of our seals to venture into the nearby water. Once we released her with her tag, she immediately left the beach and went for a swim.
Vulcan
Date tagged: 04/13/2022
Sex: Male
Mass: 101.4 kg (223.6 lb)
Standard length: 167 cm (5.5 ft)
Vulcan was the biggest seal that we tagged for this study, weighing over 220 pounds! He was also the most difficult seal we handled. He led us on a wild chase through the surf during his capture.
Atlas
Date tagged: 04/13/2022
Sex: Male
Mass: 98.2 kg (216.5 lb)
Standard length: 159 cm (5.2 ft)
Atlas was the last seal that we tagged on April 13th. He was very calm, but he really loved to flip sand. While working with Atlas we were constantly dodging flying sand!
Minotaur
Date tagged: 04/14/2022
Sex: Female
Mass: 79.8 kg (175.9 lb)
Standard length: 151 cm (4.6 ft)
Minotaur was the first seal we tagged on April 14 and is definitely our most photogenic seal. After tagging she stayed near our research team, which allowed us to take a lot of glamour shots of her. She also was the first of our pups to venture far up the coast!
Falcon
Date tagged: 04/14/2022
Sex: Male
Mass: 98.4 kg (216.9 lb)
Standard length: 159 cm (5.2 ft)
Falcon was the last seal we tagged for the 2022 season. He was very vocal during the tagging process, so we thought the name Falcon was fitting. He was also the last seal to leave the “nest.”