Postcard Greetings From Peninsula Valdes

An elephant seal’s year is divided into four cycles: two on land, and two in the ocean. They haul out on land for the breeding season, which lasts from late August through early November, and for the molting season from mid-December through March. During their terrestrial phase, elephant seals fast and spend most of their time sleeping to conserve vital energy reserves. Motionless giants, they resemble wet oval rocks strewn along the beach and blend perfectly into the landscape. Elephant seals are endowed with a generous coat of greasy blurber. The wrapping of fat insulates them from the cold antartic currents, but is also a larder for lean times and provides vital energy for the long fasts during the molting and breeding seasons - Peninsula Valdes, Argentina