SAN NICOLAS ISLAND : Elephant Seals and Pups Clog Beaches

Pupping season is now at its peak among the elephant seals on San Nicolas Island, clogging the beaches of the U.S. Navy-owned outpost with sluggish mothers and their newborns.

The wind-swept island, located about 60 miles off the Ventura County coast, is populated by about 200 military and civilian residents. But for several weeks beginning in December and continuing into spring, elephant seals weighing up to 5,000 pounds outnumber humans, forcing the Navy to close many beach areas to give the mothers and pups ample room.

“Some of them look like they’re still slimy,” said Lt. Barry S. Winkle, the island’s ranking officer, looking upon a shoreline crowded with pups and parents one recent day. “Normally you can walk right up to them. But if you walked up now, they’d head right for the water and squash their pups.”

Born weighing less than 100 pounds, the pups often quintuple their weight in their first two months of life. Though they are born with black coats, they usually molt within seven weeks and develop gray or brown coats.

The species was nearly extinct a century ago, after decades of being hunted for their blubber. Now protected by federal law, the animals that come to the Channel Islands number 40,000 to 50,000. The mammals spend most of the year in the open seas, pupping and breeding annually on San Nicolas, San Miguel, Santa Barbara and San Clemente islands.