Adventures of an Elephant Seal

This morning the male elephant seal woke up and decided he would cause chaos. Maybe it’s because he’s lonely now that the females have left, or maybe it’s because he gets a kick out of hearing me yell at him from the window.

He started by galumphing straight over a gull nest then stopping to snooze on top of it, which resulted in 2 very upset gulls.

Unimpressed

He then made his way over to the fresh water shed where he proceeded to break into it by knocking down the sawhorse. If it were any other animal my first instinct would be to run outside and chase him off. Since he is a large male elephant seal…I opted for shouting from the kitchen window which did the trick! I could also tell that he was more interested in the sawhorse than anything else so I wasn’t too concerned about any immediate damage to the water tank. 

From the shed he made his way along the side of the house and started to boop his nose towards the propane tanks. Usually I always leave the elephant seals to do as they please, letting nature be nature, but I swear it’s like this seal wants to take down all of the supplies that keep me alive over here! Thankfully he moved on, but stopped shortly after to chew on a pipe that sticks out of the ground. This time I yelled at him from the balcony, as if I was scolding my dog and it worked surprisingly well. He made his way up to the lighthouse and fell asleep next to the stairs where he has remained for the rest of the day.

I hope tomorrow he behaves himself, or goes into the ocean like a normal seal would. Today I felt as though I was babysitting a toddler on a sugar high.

Trouble with a capital T!!!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 3

Weather:

  • Sky: Sun and clouds
  • Wind: Low of 5 knots, High of 21 knots
  • Sea: Whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 15•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **