Friends Of The Elephant Seal

Touching the future.. California State University Channel Islands faculty and students planned an early morning visit to the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery as part of their trip to learn more about coastal management challenges. Our docents were there to welcome them and interpret all the action on the beach as they learned about the challenges that northern elephant seals face in our changing climate.

Protecting elephant seals and educating our visitors since 1997... We were honored when Smithsonian online magazine journalist Sara Kuta put a spotlight on the work of the Friends of the Elephant Seal in protecting the elephant seals at the Piedras Blancas rookery in San Simeon, California. She praised our organization for educating the public “in hopes humans and the marine mammals can coexist peacefully.” She recounted the long-standing collaborative efforts that led to the establishment of this unique viewing site for the protection of the 25,000 seals in the Piedras Blancas northern elephant seal colony. Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-this-small-nonprofit-helped-save-californias-elephant-seals-180982991/

Honoring an elephant seal... Meet Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal X810, an amazing 21-year old seal who has seen the oceans change dramatically over her lifetime! Our visitors often ask our docents, “How long do elephant seals live?” The Friends of the Elephant Seal Community Science team recently observed this adult female northern elephant seal with white flipper tag X810 on the Piedras Blancas Viewing Area south beach. Long- term studies on northern elephant seals have reported that fewer than 1% of female northern elephant seals reach this age! This 21-year old adult female northern elephant seal was just a pup, born in Winter, 2002 at Piedras Blancas. In her lifetime, the Arctic sea ice has been melting at a rapid rate, the ocean has warmed and sea level has risen in her California coastal home. She has undoubtedly experienced flooding of her birthing beach during winter storms and faced the challenges of keeping her pups safe. Plastic pollution in the ocean has more than doubled 3 times in her lifetime, reaching 21,000 pieces of plastic for each of earth’s 8 billion residents. Future sea level rise is projected to accelerate, with projections of higher tides, storm surge flooding and destruction of coastal wetlands and billions of dollars in property damage. We invite our visitors and friends to celebrate World Oceans Day by honoring the long life of elephant seal X810 and the brave struggle of all marine life in challenging conditions.