Fight of the Elephant Seals
Posted by eaonpop on January 15, 2009
Goats in Sonoma
When I travel I like to stop and photograph. Generally I photograph animals, barns, old stuff and whatever floats my boat. I love farm animals but usually it’s just cows and horses. This was a cool day cause there were GOATS. My sister, who really loves animals, found it funny that I’d take the time to stop the car, jump out and shoot. HA! that day I only had my digital camera (nikon d50). When I shoot with the Hassleblad it’s a bit more of an ordeal, although having my cool vw gti hatchback means I just have to setup once and then it’s easy.
Remembering the goats, when I went to visit my sister down in Morro Bay she took me to see the elephant seals. This time of year they come up onto the beach and do their thing. She said if we’re lucky we’d see a birth, or if especially lucky a fight. The day was warm (70 degrees in January?!). The beach was FULL of elephant seals. OK there were so many elephant seals they took up more than one beach. I’m not kidding. See!
All quiet on the western front
Kinda boring at this point, except for the flock of seagulls, which signal a new birth. That seems cool but not so exciting and then things just get wild for a good 20 minutes. It all starts when two males suddenly raise up and roar. Trust me, it’s loud. Really loud cause the surf is loud as it is.
But they’re pretty far away from each other so it seems harmless. Really it does. These guys are big boys. Like half a ton big. Maybe even more. Who knew they could move so fast? But they did.
The females with pups were pretty pissed off and voiced their displeasure. So you have the loud smacking and roaring from the males and the pissed off yelling of the females. Even the pups were screeching so as not to get stomped.
And these guys are fierce fighters. Really fierce. I thought they were gonna kill each other. Don’t take my word for it! I have the photos.
-
- Goats in Sonoma
-
- All quiet on the western front
-
- Hear me ROAR!
-
- Start of the fight
-
- Who’s bigger?
-
- Lots of blood
-
- A swing back ready to strike
