Elephant Seal Homecoming Days 2009
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A couple of thousand female elephant seals are returning from the far reaches of the North Pacific Ocean to give birth to their pups on the beaches Año Nuevo State Reserve in Northern California.
To celebrate this amazing migration, we are inviting the TOPP community to witness and learn about the seals' 21,000-mile annual journeys during Elephant Seal Homecoming Days, sponsored by TOPP and California State Parks.
The tracking of these seals began when researchers from Dan Costa's lab at the UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab attached satellite tags to 20 female and 10 male elephant seals during the summer of 2008. For eight months, the seals have lived and foraged along the rich edges of the massive eddies that swirl across the North Pacific.
We are following 15 named elephant seals back to shore as researchers posted blogs about their arrival, their pup's birth, and tag removal.
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When TOPP.org debuted in July 2007, we chose one seal to represent her species and named her Penelope. Penelope is no longer wearing a satellite tag, but she continues to represent her species on TOPP.org.
The 15 new seals were give names based on their history or the history of their surroundings. There are a couple seals that have fun names as well. Their names are Poppy, Callie, Sidda (short for Obsidian), Monty, Josephine, Featherfoot, Stelephant Colbert, Jon Sealwart, Sandy, Spot, Sunny, Bottleneck, Ellie, Sebastian, and Nat.
The details of their history are on their trading cards below. Karen Maor's fourth-grade science students at Hillbrook School in Los Gatos, CA and Cathy Guiley's 4-5 graders at Valencia Elementary in Aptos, CA named many of these new seals.
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 ELEPHANT SEAL GAMES Make your own squid and set it free! - An interactive game about elephant seals' favorite meal at the Te Papa website, New Zealand. ELEPHANT SEAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
NOVA, Ocean Animal Emergency Discovering Northern Elephant Seal: Who Is in the Elephant Seal's Food Pyramid? FUN FACT: Northern elephant seals were hunted nearly to extinction in the 1880s. They are protected by Mexican and American laws, and have made an amazing comeback, from 100 that survived at Guadalupe Island off Mexico, to more than 160,000 today.- www.whaletimes.org
FUN FACT: Northern elephant seals eat squid, octopus, fish and sometimes even small sharks. Southern elephant seals have a similar diet. - www.whaletimes.org
National Park Service: Discovering Northern Elephant Seals The intent of these guides is to provide middle school students with the opportunity to observe natural processes at Point Reyes National Seashore so they might take a greater interest in environmental stewardship and science. UPDATE: 2008 Northern Elephant Seal Season Highlights(PDF) - with charts and data about the females and their pups. FUN FACT: Northern elephant seals migrate farther than any other mammal on earth, and are the only mammals known to make two migrations each year. After the breeding season, they migrate to feeding grounds in the northern Pacific Ocean. In the summer, they return to the beaches to molt, then migrate back to feeding areas until the next breeding season. Every year, they travel about 21,000 miles (33,800 km). - Monterey Bay Aquarium
FUN FACT: The male’s large nose is a secondary sexual characteristic. Large body size, large nose, and a deep booming voice sometimes serve to intimidate challengers, so that energy-depleting fights can be avoided.- Friends of the Elephant Seal
FUN FACT: Males can live 14 years; females, 20. But only a few live that long. Only one in seven pups lives to 4 years old. - Friends of the Elephant Seal
University Research Support for High School Science Teachers FUN FACT: Male elephant seals compete for females during breeding season, from December through March. The strongest, most aggressive male generally has access to more females. They compete for the females through visual and vocal threats, and occasionally physical battles. - www.whaletimes.org
ELEPHANT SEAL FEATURE STORIES
FUN FACT: Once each year, in the summer, elephant seals come ashore and shed the first layer of skin and their fur. The skin and fur come off in sheets as new skin and fur replace the old. - Monterey Bay Aquarium
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ELEPHANT SEAL CONSERVATION Año Nuevo State Reserve: FUN FACT: Northern elephant seals can stay underwater for 40 minutes, sometimes longer. They normally dive 1,000 to 2,000 feet, but can go as deep as 5,000 feet. When they dive, they swim only for the first one hundred feet, coast for the remainder and sometimes nap on the way down. - http://www.whaletimes.org/whaelsl.htm
Friends of the Elephant Seal: The Marine Mammal Center:
FUN FACT: With all that blubber, elephant seal bodies are designed to keep warm in cold water. On land, sand flipping helps them keep cool; they also flip sand when they’re under stress.- Friends of the Elephant Seal
ELEPHANT SEAL VIDEOSAño Nuevo State Reserve Elephant Seal Guided Tour
RK Productions, Google Video.
Elephant Seals at Point Piedras Blancas
Wonders of the West
Tagging elephant seals
TOPP.
A Seal's Life - The Story of the Northern Elephant Seal
From Wharton Media.
How a male elephant seal protects his harem.
From BBC Worldwide.
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Pup is born, it's a boy!
California State Parks: 
Each guide is carefully designed to facilitate a hands-on learning experience using science and the environment. Natural resources, such as northern elephant seals, are highlighted because they are easy to identify and to observe.
National Geographic’s Xpeditions: 
California State University at Monterey Bay: : 
Santa Barbara Community College: 
