Last updated: April 3, 2019
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Radio Tagged Elephant Seals Found in Point Reyes
NPS / M. Cox. NMFS Permit No. 21425
March 2019 - This elephant seal breeding season at Point Reyes National Seashore has been an exciting one for park visitors and staff. It has also been exciting, albeit in a different way, for UC Santa Cruz researchers studying elephant seals at Año Nuevo Natural Reserve.
Early in the season, Point Reyes elephant seal monitoring staff spotted a radio tagged yearling (a seal born last year) on Drakes Beach. The seal had a dye mark and green flipper tags, indicating that it came from Año Nuevo. They quickly notified the Año Nuevo researchers, who were able to rush to Point Reyes that day. The researchers found and retrieved the equipment, and, while they were at it, found another one of their yearlings with a radio tag! The preliminary data from these tags show that young elephant seals are capable of deep dives as soon as they leave for the open ocean. One of the seals reached a depth of almost 790 feet after only three days at sea. After two months the seals were diving as deep as 2,100 feet!
NPS / M. Cox. NMFS Permit No. 21425
On February 11, Point Reyes monitoring staff spotted another seal, this time an adult female, with scientific instruments on her head and back. She was carrying a valuable Fluorometer CTD Tag, also deployed by Año Nuevo researchers. The tag records oceanic conditions such as temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll concentration in addition to behavioral data such as distance traveled and dive depth. The researchers were able to retrieve this equipment as well, although it took a couple of weeks due to weather.
Visit the University of California’s Año Nuevo Natural Reserve website to follow their research. Also check out the Point Reyes Weekly Elephant Seal Monitoring Update for more details, and for the latest on news as the breeding season winds down.