Male elephant seals (bulls) rear up on their foreflippers and fight for territory and harems of females. Bull elephant seals will haul out and fight from December through March, nearly fasting the entire time as they maintain their territory and harem. They bite and tear at each other on the neck and shoulders, drawing blood and creating scars on the tough hides. Sandy beach rookery, winter, Central California.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 35142
The old Point Loma lighthouse operated from 1855 to 1891 above the entrance to San Diego Bay. It is now a maintained by the National Park Service and is part of Cabrillo National Monument.
Location: Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California
Image ID: 14522
Male elephant seals (bulls) rear up on their foreflippers and fight for territory and harems of females. Bull elephant seals will haul out and fight from December through March, nearly fasting the entire time as they maintain their territory and harem. They bite and tear at each other on the neck and shoulders, drawing blood and creating scars on the tough hides.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 20377
Male elephant seals (bulls) rear up on their foreflippers and fight in the surf for access for mating females that are in estrous. Such fighting among elephant seals can take place on the beach or in the water. They bite and tear at each other on the neck and shoulders, drawing blood and creating scars on the tough hides.
Species: Elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 20407
Elephant seals crowd a sand beach at the Piedras Blancas rookery near San Simeon. The Piedras Blancas lighthouse is visible in upper left.
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 20355
Guadalupe Island at sunrise, panorama. Volcanic coastline south of Pilot Rock and Spanish Cove, near El Faro lighthouse.
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 19497
Panorama dimensions: 2797 x 16157
Piedras Blancas lighthouse. Completed in 1875, the 115-foot-tall Piedras Blancas lighthouse is one of the few tall-style lighthouses on the West Coast of the United States. Piedras Blancas, named for a group of three white rocks just offshore, is north of San Simeon, California very close to Hearst Castle.
Location: Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, California
Image ID: 20348