Jane Stevens at UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab, CA - Remember Chamomile, the tiny orphaned elephant seal pup who was rescued and taken to the Marine Mammal Center on January 11? He's gaining weight, and seems to have passed through a critical stage where he was trembling a lot and looking a little weak. They put him on a heating pad to keep him warm, and made sure that he got plenty of salmon oil and milk. Tasty.

Mieke Eerkens, communications specialist at TMMC, sent this email yesterday afternoon:

"I went up to see Chamomile at feeding time.....I snapped a few photos...as he was napping after his lunch (you can still see formula on his face that he spit up). The vet tech tells me he has gained about 6 kilos [about 13 pounds]. As you can see in the photos, he’s getting plumper, which is important for an elephant seal. You may also be able to see in the photos that he is just beginning to lose his black coat. I am told that his trembling has gotten much less, which is also a good sign. So things are going fairly well for him. He still has a long way to go, though. Eventually, he will go to “fish school” so we can be sure he can feed himself out in the wild before we release him."

Here's a photo of him shortly after he was rescued, followed by another that Mieke sent yesterday.

He's definitely gaining weight, but not at the rate that pups do in the wild. Over 28 days, they pack on five to 10 pounds a day. You can practically see the pup inflating as mom deflates.

But pups at TMMC have one advantage that pups in the wild don't have: as Mieke mentioned, they go to fish school. Not so for the pups at Año Nuevo. They sit on the beach for about a month after their moms abruptly leave them and head back into the ocean. When the 300-pound weaners finally get hungry, they have to figure out on their own, without help or assistance from friends or family members, not only WHAT to eat, but WHERE to find it, and HOW to catch it. If you think about it, that's some pretty amazing genetic coding that turns on and says: "There's nothing on this beach worth eating. You can find food in that big wet place with the scary waves. And squid is your favorite. It (looks? smells? moves?) like this."

TMMC has rehabilitated several elephant seal pups, and TOPP researchers have come across them at Año Nuevo. Last month, just at sunset, we found this large young male hanging out at the shoreline. He was very suspicous of us -- a lot of males regard humans as inconsequential pieces of moving furniture. Unlike harbor seals or California sea lions, elephant seals don't bond with or learn to trust humans. You can sure see it in this guy's eyes!

Let's keep our fingers crossed for Chamomile, and hope that someday researchers will spot him at Año Nuevo.