Nicole Marie Teutschel at UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab, CA -- Yesterday, at Piedras Blancas it was clear that last weekend’s storm had a dramatic effect on the colony. Many seals were pushed to the tops of sand dunes, up against the fence next to the highway, off the beach into cow pastures, and even across the highway!

Some males where pretty smart, moving away from the ocean and its large swells. You’ll see in one of the photos, a cow eating grass within 10 feet of a sleeping bull seal! Other males were scattered along the tops of sand dunes, and in the safe valleys behind the beaches. One male didn’t feel safe enough in the dunes and proceeded to undulate across the highway! This guy broke through barbed wire fences and landed himself in a small cow pond. Check out the photo…he seems pretty content in his new home! KSBY, the local NBC affiliate in San Luis Obispo, did a story about the elephant seal that's now named Lucky.

The large males seemed to do okay, getting out of harm's way. Pups who didn’t make it to higher ground with their mothers were displaced. When swells pick up, small pups are washed off the beach into the waves. Many disappear, while others are lucky enough to make it to a neighboring beach, such as the rescued pups from up north. Others that are fortunate enough not to get taken by the waves may still get separated from their mothers. A mother and her pup share unique vocal calls to recognize each other. These unique calls help prevent prolonged separation for small disturbances -- when males fight or other fiascos that are a way of life in the colonies. But sometimes storms are too much, and pups get separated from their mothers regardless.

At Piedras Blancas, some mothers had adopted orphaned pups, some with two or even three pups each! Unfortunately, adopting isn’t such a good thing in the elephant seal world -- every last bit of milk counts for the pup she already has. Pups rely on the weight they gain from mom’s milk to survive their next challenge: the post-weaning fast. About 28 days after they give birth to their pups, moms head back into the ocean for their first meal in more than a month. They leave their pups behind on the beach. The pups stay on the beach at their colony until they have used up their fat reserves and must learn to swim. Without the extra fat to sustain them during that critical development period, their chances at survival aren’t good.

Other pups were less fortunate, and are still orphaned days after the storms. These pups range from loud hungry pups actively trying to find mom, to skinny sleeping pups that are on the outskirts of the colonies. Without finding mom, they, too, are facing a very low chance of survival. Here’s a photo of one orphan found in the dunes:

As I mentioned in a previous posting, The Marine Mammal Center rescues and rehabilitates elephant seal pups that people find washed up on beaches along the central and northern California coasts. They do not rescue out of the breeding colonies, however, because a rescue would cause too much disruption to the other animals that live there. In these cases, the parks and rescuers alike believe that, for the health of the colony, it is better to let nature take its course. These pups are on their own.