The Biggest Ever

It is really true. The elephant seals are the biggest ever. We saw them at Ano Nuevo State Beach near Half Moon Bay recently.

It was a beautiful day with no wind or fog. It was all sunshine and clear skies with about 60+ degrees and this was on Jan. 25th in the middle of winter. Hard to believe for the coast.

Also surprizing was our first glimpse of these giants of the sea. The largest bulls can weighin at 5000 pounds!! And yes the nose looks just like an elephants nose only not quite as long. When you see them however they can measure about 2 feet in length. The females like the bulls with the longest protuberance as possible.

Our docent told us that day we would see about 2000 animals on the beach. And yes we saw lots of bulls with their harems and the babies called pups.

Funniest thing these seals reminded me of people.

They were over populated, living on top of each other, all crowded together in one area, just like people. They were also rude, crude, noisy, aggressive, and strutting around like they were important, just like people. The bulls were oh so ready to fight for their territory, just like people.

It was not windy that day but we were told that they smelled to high heaven and you wouldn't want to be down wind of them, just like some people.

We saw plenty of "seal people" on the beach that day, especially the ones that couldn't keep their nose out of others business. Some were proud of their proboscus and didn't mind showing it off and shoving it wherever they went, just like some people.

Now I don't believe in evolution but these elephant seals made me wonder.

We also took note that it was important to stay out of their way or get run over or trampled-- hmm--- just like some people.

After that day I'm really trying to keep my nose clean and out of the way.