SAN SIMEON: An Elephant Seal's Delight Part Two

Filed in archive on August 1, 2006

Yes, it's hard to under-estimate an elephant seal, considering it's obvious girth, but think about it: 5,000 feet below the lapping tides on the shoreline! That's how far down they have been known to dive.




No equipment is necessary for these magnificent animals. They require no technology other than Darwinistic physical characteristics. Carried in massive rolls around their bodies, elephant seals have evolved into using this fat layer to perform the function of providing a buffer from the extreme high pressure associating with ocean depths in the quadruple digits.




They were hunted mercilessly and without concern for the future because their blubber made great burning oil. It got so bad there were less than 100 left on the planet from a once thriving, budding wing of the marine mammal ecosystem. Remaining on an island off the coast of Mexico, the last few harems were isolated until 1972 laws protected them. This began a slow process of recovery for not only the Northern Elephant Seals, but many other marine mammals that were hunted to near extinction.

ER Harris