Wildlife smackdown

If you enjoy watching guys bloody each other over diminutive 1-ton girls, get in line. Hundreds of people hike in small groups among the coastal dunes to gawk at the northern elephant seals that flop absurd-nose to tail this time of year at Ano Nuevo State Reserve. “I never tire of seeing visitors react to the sight of a 2 1/2-ton bull peering at them with its big brown eyes,” says State Park Ranger Kevin Williams. That’s when they’re docile. Spectators really come to see bulls weighing as much as a Hyundai rear up, belt a bellow-roar heard half a mile away and rip their big front teeth into a challenger’s scar-callused “chest shield.” The winner claims a “harem” of 50 to 60 females, many of them new moms that will mate once they wean their current pup -- after about a month. Meanwhile, pity the dozens of sub-beta males, the losers in this social pecking order, that lounge solo on the edge of the action. Adults of both sexes come ashore at the reserve near Santa Cruz this month; birthing and mating peak by mid-February (right around Valentine’s Day); and by early March, most adult seals have returned to the sea. The pups stay behind in the dunes and learn to swim. Since 1990, there’s also been a burgeoning seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, north of San Simeon along Highway 1. At Ano Nuevo, the only way to access the dunes through March 31 is on one of the ranger-led walks that last about 2 1/2 hours. Cost is $4 per person, children 3 and younger are free; there’s an additional $4 fee per car. To make a reservation, call (800) 444-4445 or go to www.parks.ca.gov/anonuevo. For more information on the reserve, call (650) 879-2025 or (650) 879-0227. For information on the seal-viewing site at Piedras Blancas, go to www.elephantseal.org or call (805) 924-1628.

-- Mary Forgione