IN WHAT is thought to be a first-of-its-kind occurrence, elephant seals — animals that don’t live on the Monterey Peninsula — were spotted lounging on Lovers Point Beach last Thursday.
Two young elephant seals were at the popular beach much of Thursday, Dec. 21, sunning themselves, but were gone the next morning.

“To the best of anybody’s knowledge,” said Thom Akeman, who is on the City of Pacific Grove’s Beautification and Natural Resources Committee, “they’ve never been on the beach at Lovers Point.”

Elephant seals visit the Peninsula once in awhile, but their main colonies are Año Nuevo, south of Half Moon Bay, and Piedras Blancas, north of San Simeon, where the pinnipeds number in the thousands.

“There’s been an occasional one on the other side, the narrow beach just west of Lovers Point,” Akeman said, “an occasional one on the beach east of Otter Point, and there are sometimes a few at the protected beach next to Hopkins.”

Nancy Hagio, a volunteer with the Marine Mammal Center was called to Lovers Point when concerned citizens mistakenly identified the elephant seals as harbor seals.

“They were about a year old and were very healthy,” Hagio said. “I saw both of them and made the assessment we would leave them there for them to go back out with the tide.”

The elephant seals’ sighting at Lovers Point doesn’t likely mean they’ll establish a third colony in Pacific Grove anytime soon, according to Akeman.

“The two at Lovers Point Thursday were very young ones, probably one or two years old,” he said. “They may have left Año Nuevo, which can be a madhouse during breeding season, for safety and rest.”

The Pine Cone found out about the seals from Akeman after the paper published a photo last week of an elephant seal at Lovers Point Beach. The paper incorrectly stated the animal was a harbor seal.

The photo had ran in connection with a front-page story about the City of Pacific Grove taking steps to deter harbor seals from establishing habitat at Lovers Point.

Although similar in appearance, harbor seals have distinct differences to elephant seals, according to Jim Covel, manager of Guest Experience Training & Interpretation for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

“The configuration of the nose is very different from a harbor seal, even for a young elephant seal,” Covel said. “A harbor seal is going to be much smaller by comparison, and harbor seals tend to have dark spots against a light colored fur, while the fur of elephant seal juveniles tend to be a uniform color.”

Elephant seal breeding season begins in December. The male bulls, which can be up to 16 feet long and weigh up to two and a half tons, battle each other to establish dominance.

Covel said as the elephant seal numbers increase, there is growing competition for beach space. Researchers are now seeing elephant seals on many smaller “pocket beaches” up and down the central coast.

“For the past couple of years,” Covel said, “young elephant seals have been seen briefly on the beach at Hopkins Marine Station. So it’s not surprising they would check out the beach at Lovers Point.”

Akeman said he’s asked the city to post warning signs so people don’t disturb elephant seals or harbor seals in the event they take to the beach again. The city is considering it.

“We definitely wouldn’t approach them under any circumstances,” he said. “Elephant seals, much more aggressive than the others, have sharp teeth and can bite your arm off if you get close enough to challenge them.”