"Elephant Seals" uploaded by ANiceCupofTea
The stench is nauseating. The moans, belches and groans are deafening.
But all that doesn't stop the crowds of gawkers who come each day to take in the sight of hundreds - sometimes thousands - of elephant seals at Piedras Blancas, a beach on the Pacific coast about 320 kilometres south of San Francisco.
The elephant seal symphony is reminiscent of non-stop human belching, with some added grunts, snorts, bleats, whimpers, squeaks, squeals and trumpet sounds. A stockyard-like smell assaults viewers.
This rookery along the coastal highway at the southern end of Big Sur is especially noisy during breeding season from late November through late January. Males bellow threats, pups squawk for food and females squabble over prime location.
