Nicole Teutschel at Long Marine Lab, Santa Cruz, CA--Isabel and Myoceen gave birth to their pups! Isabel, an 11-year-old seal, returned to Año Nuevo on January 8^th. She came onto shore at one of Año’s largest harems: Año Point Gully. Each day TOPP researchers have been hiking out to the harem to check on Isabel, most importantly to determine when she has her pup. Today, we found Isabel with her skinny, wrinkled newborn pup, who still had its umbilical cord! Isabel and her pup were interacting by barking at each other and routinely going nose to nose, a bonding behavior seen in northern elephant seals. Isabel and her pup will now remember each other’s call and scent and use those characteristics to recognize one another throughout the remainder of the breeding season.

So far, Isabel seems like a good mom. She was observed nursing her pup, protecting it from other females, and keeping her cool even when a large male fight broke out only a few feet away.

Myoceen, a 15-year-old seal tagged at Año Nuevo, returned to Piedras Blancas on January 6^th, another northern elephant seal colony south of Año. TOPP researchers traveled down the coast last week to find her, and she is one big seal! While she hadn’t had her pup yet, she was checked on daily by TOPP affiliates down at Piedras Blancas. Yesterday, we got word that Myoceen had her pup!

Now that the pups have arrived, the TOPP E-Seal team is gearing up to recover the tags from both seals. Myoceen will be our first recovery of the season. On Thursday we will head down the coast to Piedras Blancas to find Myoceen and her pup and retrieve the tag. Isabel’s tags will be recovered on Friday.

We will be blogging after both procedures, check back soon!