Molly McCormley at UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab, CA --Welcome back to our Day in the Life blog during Elephant Seal Homecoming Days! This week we will be looking at YEARLINGS! These guys are awesome because while they are surviving on their own, they don't seem to actually realize how tough they are!

A yearling resting on the beach at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Notice how yearlings fur isn't nice and smooth, but scabby and dirty. Photo: Erin Pickett

Yearlings are the pups of last season, so about one year old. This means that they have survived one full year on their own! That’s amazing considering 40% of seals die in their FIRST year! Though they have been on their own for a while, they are still a little unsure and scared about life, because after all they were just weaned a year ago! No one taught them how to swim, dive, or how to catch prey. To make things even trickier, e seals don't have maps or road signs! How did they figure out where to go!?!

These are the champions, the survivors, the gnarly seals...who are also pretty scared. They are stuck in the awkward teenage phase and are not quite sure what to do with themselves. All they know is: they're smaller than those big guys, the beach is getting crowded, and they're hungry (like all e seals).

This is how yearlings typically look at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Huddled together wavering between curiousity and sheer terror! This photo was taken during the motling season, which is later in the year. Photo: Erin Pickett

Yearlings won’t breed until 3-4 years of age and therefore during the breeding season you don’t see many yearlings about. It also doesn’t help that they are still pretty small and therefore are prone to being beaten up by adults! The few that you do see have been banished to the outskirts of the harems by bullies. Needless to say, they spend most of their day in hiding, usually with a few of their buddies.

Yearlings huddled together away from the adults at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Photo: Erin Pickett

This is the reason that most yearlings haul out earlier than the adults and leave before they arrive. However, there are always those few who don’t get their timing right! But don't worry little yearlings, you may be small, but you are already tough predators in the ocean! Soon you will be on par with the huge adults and life won’t be so scary anymore!

A yearling sleeping away at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Photo: Lauren Randall

Stay tuned for more Day in the Life blogs! If you’d like to learn more check out the E Seal Species page and the Elephant Seal Homecoming Days page!