I think I got the video thing to work, check out these little films that I took with my digital photo camera. The first one is from one semi-alpha bull chasing the other one after they had been trading threats for a while:
The next one is the alpha bull trying to mate with one of his harem ladies, unsuccessfully :-)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Elephant Seals
Today we went and watched elephant seals in the Ano Nuevo State Reserve, which is on the Pacific Coast about 40 miles south of San Francisco. They come to the Reserve every winter to give birth as well as re-produce, and there is limited access for visitors to keep the animals wild. The males are extremely territorial and fight non-stop to ensure that their genes will make it to the next generation. Some of the explanations made us realize how human behavior is related to that :-) The males have harems which they try to protect from other males. The females hang out on the beach and nurse their new-borns, but shortly after they have given birth, they are ready to reproduce. That makes for an interesting setting, with the pups still nursing and the alpha males looking to mate. The females then leave their pups after about 4 weeks, and, after loosing about 30% of their body weight due to nursing, try to regain their weight. In the meantime, the fertilized egg remains dormant until they are back to their strength, at which point their pregnancy "starts" again.
It was a rainy day (although it stopped raining when our tour started), which made the seals very active. Here are some impressions. The videos are even more telling, I just need to figure out how to minimize their size.
Brown pelicans were scanning the water for food.
These juveniles were checking us out; we could walk up to about 25 feet from them; they don't have the developed nose yet, and look a little funny......
Except for the pups, none of the seals eats anything while staying in this area (for up to 3 months!), so they are very concerned about their energy use. They will lounge for long periods, and only the absolute necessary movement will be undertaken. The males can weigh up to 5,000 lbs and are 14-16 feet in length, the females weigh up to 2,000 lbs at a length of 10-12 feet. Still, they look very cute with their puppy eyes :-)
Here is a bull trying to impressive the local females with his chest and mating noises, which are amplified through his nose.
A juvenile is checking out the scenery....
Two bulls are fighting in the midst of the colony.
... and the winner is....... Foreplay consists of a bite in the neck, then a brief mating session, ended by her biting his nose.....
Nature is so close, and so beautiful! Here is a link to the Reserve if you want to get some more information:
Ano Nuevo State Reserve
It was a rainy day (although it stopped raining when our tour started), which made the seals very active. Here are some impressions. The videos are even more telling, I just need to figure out how to minimize their size.
Brown pelicans were scanning the water for food.
These juveniles were checking us out; we could walk up to about 25 feet from them; they don't have the developed nose yet, and look a little funny......
Except for the pups, none of the seals eats anything while staying in this area (for up to 3 months!), so they are very concerned about their energy use. They will lounge for long periods, and only the absolute necessary movement will be undertaken. The males can weigh up to 5,000 lbs and are 14-16 feet in length, the females weigh up to 2,000 lbs at a length of 10-12 feet. Still, they look very cute with their puppy eyes :-)
Here is a bull trying to impressive the local females with his chest and mating noises, which are amplified through his nose.
A juvenile is checking out the scenery....
Two bulls are fighting in the midst of the colony.
... and the winner is....... Foreplay consists of a bite in the neck, then a brief mating session, ended by her biting his nose.....
Nature is so close, and so beautiful! Here is a link to the Reserve if you want to get some more information:
Ano Nuevo State Reserve
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Yosemite Snow
New Year, new resolutions :-) Here is the latest from us. We went to Yosemite to go snowshoeing, something that we have come to enjoy almost more than snowboarding: no crowds, no rush, no lines, no overpriced food. So we went to Yosemite NP, and took a trip from Badger Pass to Dewey Point. Because it was a semi-holiday weekend (MLK day, bankers, government and teachers had Monday off), it was fairly crowded, so the aforementioned did not quite apply. But we took the "most difficult" route to the viewpoint and the crowd was completely gone :-) It was Sabine's first hike after her accident, but she did great, and we got to the lookout fairly early.
We had lunch and enjoyed the view: we could look into the Valley and saw El Capitan and Half Dome (picture is El Capitan, 3000 ft high and the largest piece of granite on the planet):
Some more pictures from the viewpoint during and after lunch:
We got back after a total of 4 hours and were really tired. After a good night's sleep in a local motel, we decided to drive into the valley the next day and walk around some more. The sun came out most of the time, and it was beautiful as always. The rocks in the Merced river were snow-covered, and the reflection of El Capitan in the river looked great:
We took some pictures with our new little monkey tripod that can be tied on tree branches for example (thanks, Michael and Ewa!):
We walked around and saw (small) Yosemite Falls reflect in the river:
From close by, the lower half of the waterfalls looked like it was spring though:
Half Dome looked as beautiful as ever, and although Sabine keeps telling me that the 285724587248 pictures I already have should be enough, I couldn't resist:
On our way back to the car, we saw a little bobcat hiding a few feet from the sidewalk; the local wildlife clearly enjoys the lack of tourist on winter days:
We had lunch and enjoyed the view: we could look into the Valley and saw El Capitan and Half Dome (picture is El Capitan, 3000 ft high and the largest piece of granite on the planet):
Some more pictures from the viewpoint during and after lunch:
We got back after a total of 4 hours and were really tired. After a good night's sleep in a local motel, we decided to drive into the valley the next day and walk around some more. The sun came out most of the time, and it was beautiful as always. The rocks in the Merced river were snow-covered, and the reflection of El Capitan in the river looked great:
We took some pictures with our new little monkey tripod that can be tied on tree branches for example (thanks, Michael and Ewa!):
We walked around and saw (small) Yosemite Falls reflect in the river:
From close by, the lower half of the waterfalls looked like it was spring though:
Half Dome looked as beautiful as ever, and although Sabine keeps telling me that the 285724587248 pictures I already have should be enough, I couldn't resist:
On our way back to the car, we saw a little bobcat hiding a few feet from the sidewalk; the local wildlife clearly enjoys the lack of tourist on winter days:
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