Nicole Marie Teutschel  Año Nuevo State Reserve, CA-- Sebastian the elephant seal big, tough, and instead of answering to alpha, he IS the alpha.  Sebastian is an adult male elephant seal satellite tagged by TOPP last summer. Since, he has come ashore in a  big way: Sebastian is the alpha male of his harem in Bight Beach North. Sound familiar? Bight Beach North is the Harem where Poppy had her pup.

Sebastian is named after Don Sebastian Viscaino the Spanish conquistador.  Now that Sebastian is back from his foraging expedition up to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, Sebastian is spending a few months on the beach. As the alpha, Sebastian spends most of his time belching at approaching males, posturing his large nose in the air, fighting off males trying to dethrone him, and mating with females who are coming into estrous and leaving the beach.  Alphas stay pretty busy! Here we caught him fast asleep....he better rest up! He'll need all his strength to keep his harem in the weeks to come.

An adult female vocalizing to the harem while Sebastian catches some shut-eye between fights. Photo: Nicole Teutschel

Meanwhile around the bend at North Point, two more formally satellite tagged males have also been sighted!  Jon Sealwart, named after the Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, is....asleep.  Again?!?! Sure enough, Jon found a nice quiet piece of sand where he was fast asleep during the three hours we were on the beach.

Jon Sealwart asleep at North Point... Photo: Molly McCormley

A few hundred yards away, Stelephant Colbert was busy showing off his nose to the other males, working hard to become the next dominant male!

Stelephant throwing his big nose up in the air at North Point. Photo: Molly McCormley

Stay tuned for more Elephant Seal Homecoming Days updates.