Studio CSU Elephant Seal Sound Recording

Steven Levinson & Nathan Northup - Piedras Blancas

Listen to Program (broadcast February 23, 2003, KAZU 90.3 FM)
Listen to Sounds (recorded February 1, 2003)

Elephant Seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, Calif. Nathan Northup and Steven Levinson ready the boom. The subjects... A variety of sounds are captured.
Wind and waves are troublesome.
Mother seals are agressive towards other pups.


Milk has to be guarded zealously!


"Yellow" means this seal was tagged on San Miguel Island

Steven and Nate again, listening in...

Civilization meets creatures of the deep...

The nose kind of grows on you.

Young pups can't swim so high surf is dangerous.
Mothers and pups
Young but mature male lurks at the water's edge...

Notice his left flipper has been bitten off, probably by a shark.

Even the youngest "flip sand"

Her fat pup is almost weaned, which means it's mating time as far as the Alpha male is concerned.


Notice the great difference in size between males and females

Typical male threat display. This is when you would hear the deep "click, click, click."

These guys only care about other males and will crush anything in their rush to attack.

Almost every female has a pup.

Abandoned weaners look forlornly for their mothers and are threatened by others.

Catching the final sounds!