Habitat:
Northern elephant seals can be found along the coast of mainland California and on California islands in pelagic waters. Southern elephant seals range from the coast of Australia to the shores of Antarctic islands. Elephant seals forage in the open ocean, primarily feeding on fish and cephlapods (squid) and occasionally on octopodids (Rodhouse et al., 1992). They exhibit a diurnal pattern of deep (to over 1000 feet) and shallow diving, with more frequent and shorter dives at night, when food is more abundant at the surface (Boyd, 1991). Elephant seals spend between 80% and 90% of their time underwater when they are at sea (Jonker et al., 1994). Foraging frequently occurs at the border of two temperature masses, and temperature discontinuity may be used to define foraging location (Boyd, 1991).
Photo courtesy of California State Park http://parks.ca.gov/central/bayarea/an228/an228l.htm
Breeding and molting occur on beaches. During the breeding season, males fast for about three months and females fast for one month since their prey is unavailable on land (Jones, 1981). Breeding and pupping occurs most frequently on long, open beaches, since females on larger beaches experience a lesser amount of harassment than females in smaller coves (Boyd et al, 1996).
