Storms sweep newborn elephant seals that can’t yet swim out to sea, CA officials say
The series of huge storms that hit California’s coast killed off a number of newborn elephant seals in the Bay Area, marine mammal ecologists say.
Ecologists are still taking stock of exactly how many newborns were swept out to sea. After the storms, they “observed a high mortality rate” at Point Reyes National Seashore, spokesperson Christine Beekman told McClatchy News.
Newborns are not able to swim during their first few weeks of life, when they’re primarily focused on nursing, she explained. Mother elephant seals will try to put their body between the pups and the choppy waves, but because the storms came from the south, the beach got hit harder than usual.
“Often times what will happen during violent winter storm systems is the sands will be eroded right from the beaches,” she said.
When that happens, elephant seals will move up the beach away from the crashing waves on top of plants and vegetation near coastal dunes. To protect them, the National Park Service closes key areas of the park from Dec. 15 to March 31.
Park service officials are asking visitors to refrain from traveling to the park after the severe weather.
It’s early enough in pupping season that officials are “cautiously optimistic” that the number of pups will increase again, Beekman said.
“We’re hoping there aren’t too many more storms that come in and negatively impact pups’ survival rate,” she said.
Still, the die-off has officials concerned, Sarah Codde told SFGATE. She’s a marine ecologist for Point Reyes National Seashore.
“We are very concerned about elephant seal pups over these next few storms,” she told the outlet. “I can say this year’s mortality rate so far is more than what we normally see.”
She estimated they normally see 5% pup mortality by the time they’re weaned in the fall, which would have meant two or three deaths out of the 50 under normal circumstances. Ecologists counted roughly 13 of the area’s 50 pups had survived as of Jan. 6, she told the outlet.
This story was originally published January 17, 2023 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Storms sweep newborn elephant seals that can’t yet swim out to sea, CA officials say."
