VOYAGES

It is not often that you can get close to ared-necked, huge-nosed, bellowing, two-and-a-half-ton, 14-foot-long behemothand his cronies—particularly if he is in themidst of courtship or fighting off a foe.But at Año Nuevo State Reserve, a 4,000-acre park on California’s rough androcky coast, such privileged views arecommon. Thousands of northern ele-phant seals haul out along the beaches atdifferent times of year, providing visitorswith an up-close-and-personal look at thelives of these mammoth creatures and ofother ocean-dwelling mammals as well.

Año Nuevo is a beautiful spot, re-gardless of what you come to see or whenyou come to see it. The elephant sealbeaches, and one of the few remainingtrue sand dunes in this region, lie at thefar end of long, wide fields and someshrubby enclaves—roughly a mile and ahalf from the entrance of the reserve.This low vegetation is a raptor lover’shaven, hunted by northern harriers, red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks, goldeneagles, white-tailed kites and Americankestrels, among others. Indeed, becauseof the varied habitats in the park—andbecause it falls along the Pacific flyway, amajor migration route—some 240 spe-cies of birds can been found at Año Nue-vo over the course of the year.

As you walk through the brushy ter-rain toward the beaches, you can see therugged coastal cliffs curving down to thesouth toward Santa Cruz. Wildflowers—

including California poppy and Indianpaintbrush—start to bloom on the east-ern side of the reserve in late February andearly March; the color sweeps through

the fields over the next few months, reach-ing the coast by June.

Just half a mile offshore—off-limits tovisitors but open to researchers studyinggreat white sharks, elephant seals andother creatures—sits Año Nuevo Island.Until the late 1700s, when the sea finallyhad its way, it was attached to the main-

land. Now the ruins of a lighthouse andits keeper’s Victorian-style quarters areoverrun by wildlife. According to the re-serve’s docents, a few of the thousands ofSteller and California sea lions that in-habit the island sometimes make it up thestairs and into the bathtub on the secondfloor of the main house. The island is also frequented by harbor seals, sea ot-ters, rhinoceros auklets, brown pelicansand three species of cormorant. Visitorslooking off the coast during March andApril can observe gray whales makingtheir annual northward migration from

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War and Peace among the Pinnipeds VISITING THE WILDLIFE OF AÑO NUEVO BY MARGUERITE HOLLOWAY

ELEPHANT SEAL colony at Año Nuevo becameestablished in the 1960s. The seals had beennearly wiped out in the previous century by huntersseeking blubber for oil. Protected since the 1920s,elephant seals now thrive along the Pacific coast.

Copyright 2001 Scientific American, Inc.

Baja California to their summer feedingsites in the northern Pacific. (Anothergood place to spot them is from PigeonPoint Lighthouse, just a few miles northof Año Nuevo.)

Despite these many attractions, AñoNuevo is best known for its colony of ele-phant seals, the largest group in the North-ern Hemisphere. For that reason, one ofthe most exciting times to visit the reserveis in the winter and early spring, betweenmid-December and the end of March.During these months the females come infrom the ocean to give birth and the malesfight over them and assemble harems formating. An alpha bull will lie, like a hugebrown boulder, amid his entourage ofdozens of females, moving his bulk sur-

prisingly quickly only when anothermale—and there are often many lurkingaround the edges of the group—gets tooclose. Around him the females, svelte atabout a mere ton, toss sand on them-selves and give birth, often in just 10 min-utes and with hardly a noise. Aroundthem lie the newborn pups, darker in color, reflexively tossing sand on them-selves as well. And amid this throng ofmassive seals stalk gulls and other seabirds

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VOYAGES

By the end of January, after the pups have beenborn, the fighting among the males begins in earnest.

The peak for mating is Valentine’s Day.

PROBOSCIS reaches its full length of about 30centimeters in its relaxed state by the time maleelephant seals are eight years old. During thebreeding season the organ becomes enlarged as it inflates and fills with blood. It may serve toamplify the enginelike roar of the older males.

Copyright 2001 Scientific American, Inc.

looking for bits of nutritious placenta.By the end of January, after the pups

have been born, the fighting among themales begins in earnest. “The peak formating is Valentine’s Day,” says Frank S.Balthis, a longtime Año Nuevo ranger.The thick skin around their necks be-comes bloody with battle. The pups tryto stay clear, as they can be crushed in therushing fights and in the mating spree. InMarch the females head back to sea, ex-hausted and depleted from giving birthand mating. Although they may carry afertilized egg, it will not implant for an-other three months or so, until they havebeen able to eat enough to sustain it. InApril and May the females return by thethousands to molt on the beaches; themales come back between May and Au-gust to do the same. (In the fall, the year-lings and juvenile males return to hangout and practice fighting.)

Males and females continue their sep-arate ways while at sea. Researchersfrom the University of California at San-ta Cruz have recently determined that themales for the most part swim north tosouthern Alaska and the Aleutian Is-lands, where they visit foraging grounds.Radiotransmitter studies have revealedthat the animals can dive as deep as5,000 feet—the record for all seals—andsometimes stay under for an hour or so.In these chilly waters, they feed on fattybottom fish and on skates and rays. Thefemales, who have lower caloric require-ments, tend to spread out in the openocean, not in any particular areas, and tofeed on squid as they travel.

Año Nuevo reserve is 55 miles or sosouth of San Francisco, an easy drivealong Highway 1. During the wintermonths, visitors must make reservationsfor docent-led tours to watch the ele-phant seals giving birth, fighting andmating (call 800-444-4445 or 650-879-2033). During the rest of the year, reser-vations are not needed, but hiking per-mits are required for access to some areaswhere wildlife assemble. For general in-formation, call 650-879-0227 or 650-

879-2025 or look up the reserve onlineat www. anonuevo.org. There are sever-al other parks near Año Nuevo, includ-ing the 18,000-acre Big Basin RedwoodsState Park, with its centuries-old red-woods, and Butano State Park. And there

is excellent artichoke soup and sour-dough bread to be had at Duarte’s Tav-ern in Pescadero.

Marguerite Holloway is a contributingeditor for Scientific American.

w w w . s c i a m . c o m SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 95Copyright 2001 Scientific American, Inc.