Where blubber meets the road

This time each year in San Simeon, CA, , hundreds of croaking, roaring, shrieking elephant seals gather to breed and give birth on the rocky shoreline below Hearst Castle.

The boisterous annual show draws hordes of tourists to a boardwalk 15 feet above, where they can watch the enormous pinnipeds tend the shiny black pups, squabble over beach space and battle for the right to mate.

But this year, some of the seals are sneaking past barbed-wire fences designed to protect them, then flopping on blubbery bellies right across California 1.

Local officials are scratching their heads over how to keep the highway safe while protecting the thousands of seals that return to Piedras Blancas each winter.

Source: LA Times

Photo Credit: Hicker Photo

Why did the seal cross the road?

In San Luis Obispo, California, an adult elephant seal deserted the beach and crossed Highway 1 which runs through town.


Authorities decided not to try to force the seal back across the highway, but to watch it closely and see if the massive animal would head back to its natural habitat on its own.

He didn't. In fact, he has found a large puddle in the grass and settled in. For how long, no one knows.


He sure looks content, doesn't he?


The elephant seal should be able to go about two weeks before experiencing hunger pains, experts said.

NBC11.com