The males can reach 5,000 pounds and know how to throw their weight around. We watched the alpha bull ram two or three rivals out of the way and chase one out into the surf. They look like giant fleshly caterpillars as they flop along on the sand. Their flippers actually have five fingernails, suggesting a land-based ancestry. Sometimes the pups get squished by sparring bulls.
Elephant seals are remarkable beasts.
They spend 8 to 10 months a year in the water migrating north as far as the Bering Sea. They can sleep while they dive, and can dive up to a mile deep, staying under water for an hour or two. The guide told us how seals are able to perform such longevity, and it has nothing to do with lung capacity. The beachhead was for 10,000 years populated by Indian family groups. On the return trip we took Hwy 1 south to Santa Cruz and came back on Hwy 17.