By Susan Berta | Program Coordinator
The past few months have brought our Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network a few pleasant surprises! We had our first (as far as we know) elephant seal pup born on Whidbey Island in March, and at least one other pup has appeared in May.The only other elephant seal pup we have had reported in the past was a young pup at Ft. Casey State Park in 2008, that only stayed on the beach for a few hours, so we believe this is the first documented elephant seal pup BORN on Whidbey Island - exciting!
March 19th, a female elephant seal who has returned to her molting site on Mutiny Bay for five or six years in a row (so well known to local residents that she was named “Ellie”), showed up early this year, and with a cute little black pup!
Only a single pup is produced at a time, weighing up to about 65 lbs. The pup will molt the black coat and replace it with a silver coat similar to its Mom’s starting at around four weeks. Ellie nursed the pup until he got nice and chubby, tripling his weight (see photos below!), then left the pup around the first week of May. The pup remained on the beach for another few weeks and now appears to have left the beach to learn to feed on his own.
This has been a ‘literature perfect’ chronicle watching “Ellie” and her son “Ellison” do exactly what they were expected to do. When Ellie left town, Ellison was a very plump pup, left all alone. After a few weeks he started venturing into the water to test the food supply. He has been on the move, changing his black coat to silver, and is looking very dapper and we believe he has moved on.
Another young elephant seal appeared on a beach further north on West Whidbey Island at Lagoon Pt, on May 20th - days after Ellison left Mutiny Bay - but it appears to be a younger pup than Ellison so we don't believe it is him showing up on a new beach, but another recently born and weaned elephant seal pup.
Ellie, as an adult can weigh up to 1700 lbs. Her pup can eventually weigh as much as 5000 lbs and will develop a large “proboscis” with age. He will also develop a chest shield of keratinized skin as protection against injury when they fight with other males for breeding territory.
Once a very rare sight in our region, Elephant seals are being seen more often on Whidey Island beaches, and the reports our Stranding Network responds to help us monitor the abundance of this species. The increased sightings we have been seeing supports recent research which shows the California breeding stock of northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) has doubled in abundance from 1987 to 2006 and individuals are frequently observed in the Salish Sea year-round (Carretta et al. 2011). It is exciting to collect data through our CPSMMSN to assist elephant seal researchers, and very fun to see these darling elephant seal pups on our beaches in the spring!
Also of note, Stephanie Norman, DVM, MS, PhD, the marine mammal vet on our CPSMMSN team, attended the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network Regional Meeting in March to represent our work at this NOAA Fisheries sponsored meeting. The West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network Regional Meeting took place to bring together marine mammal stranding responders and health researchers who cover the nearshore waters and shorelines of Washington, Oregon, and California, representing a total of 31 organizations. See attached photo of the posters she brought to the meeting - one about the work the CPSMMSN does, the other on our B Cell Lymphoma porpoise case.
Thanks to YOU, our supporters, for making all of this possible, and enabling us to contine our volunteer response efforts during the upcoming busy stranding season ~
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