February LC Thread: Survivor White House Edition
02-03-2019
, 04:49 PM
02-03-2019
, 05:07 PM
02-03-2019
, 05:22 PM
02-03-2019
, 05:24 PM
02-03-2019
, 06:02 PM
02-03-2019
, 06:16 PM
02-03-2019
, 06:22 PM
02-03-2019
, 06:25 PM
02-03-2019
, 06:52 PM
A casualty of the shutdown: We lost a local beach to elephant seals
Quote:
In the absence of heavy visitor traffic and regular staff wildlife management, the burgeoning elephant seal colony that has been drifting along the shoreline from Chimney Rock for several years appears to have gotten a foot-hold at Drakes Beach, though it’s not entirely clear where the elephant seals there came from.
What’s clear is they find it a safe and protected place to bear offspring. By Monday, there were about 50 females with 40 pups and more on the way, as well as a dominant bull and several subordinates. Some of them in recent weeks had been found up in the parking lot, under picnic tables and even on the ramp up toward the visitor center, having clambered over a wooden fence and leaving it in pieces, Dell’Osso said. While in the past a few stray, subordinate males had made their way to Drakes Beach, and two years ago two females and their pups had appeared, seashore scientists, with proper permission, have generally been able to keep them away using accepted hazing techniques like shaking tarps, said Press, the wildlife ecologist, and marine ecologist Sarah Codde.
But this year, nothing can be done except ensure the pups and their mother are allowed to have their space unbothered and that human visitors, too, are not put in harm’s way, officials said.
What’s clear is they find it a safe and protected place to bear offspring. By Monday, there were about 50 females with 40 pups and more on the way, as well as a dominant bull and several subordinates. Some of them in recent weeks had been found up in the parking lot, under picnic tables and even on the ramp up toward the visitor center, having clambered over a wooden fence and leaving it in pieces, Dell’Osso said. While in the past a few stray, subordinate males had made their way to Drakes Beach, and two years ago two females and their pups had appeared, seashore scientists, with proper permission, have generally been able to keep them away using accepted hazing techniques like shaking tarps, said Press, the wildlife ecologist, and marine ecologist Sarah Codde.
But this year, nothing can be done except ensure the pups and their mother are allowed to have their space unbothered and that human visitors, too, are not put in harm’s way, officials said.
02-03-2019
, 07:20 PM
Quote:
A casualty of the shutdown: We lost a local beach to elephant seals
02-03-2019
, 07:26 PM
02-03-2019
, 07:46 PM
02-03-2019
, 08:01 PM
02-03-2019
, 08:11 PM
02-03-2019
, 08:15 PM
02-04-2019
, 12:06 AM
02-04-2019
, 12:40 AM
02-04-2019
, 12:41 AM