Towards the end of July (2023) we went to Ano Nuevo to check out the Elephant Seals. Ano Nuevo is about an hour south of San Francisco, so if you are there during the correct season, it is worth the drive to go and check them out.

Elephant seals or sea elephants are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus Mirounga. Both species, the northern elephant seal (M. angustirostris) and the southern elephant seal (M. leonina), were hunted to the brink of extinction for oil by the end of the 19th century, but their numbers have since recovered. They are the largest extant carnivorans, weighing up to 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb). Despite their name, elephant seals are not closely related to elephants, and the large proboscis or trunk that males have was convergently evolved.

#nature #wildlife #california