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| "Año Nuevo" Pastel 9 x 12 © Donna Gross Available contact artist |
This is a piece rendered from a photo I took at an elephant seal rookery on our Central Coast here in Santa Cruz County...Año Nuevo is a very special place. During December and January, female elephant seals come ashore to give birth to their pups. The males or bulls as they are referred to form harems of female seals with the sole purpose of protecting them from other male elephant seals who may harass them or their pups...what's in it for the guys? Well, the chance to mate of course. The male elephant seals have to fight for this position of entitlement. The ones who lose hang around on the edges of the colony biding their time....waiting for an opportunity to encroach on a dominate seal's territory in the hopes of hooking up with a female. We had the most fortunate experience of being about 10 feet from one of these "lesser" males and spent a better part of a half hour watching the behaviors of hierarchy in action.....
If you find yourself in my neck of the woods...paradise....book a docent led tour to watch nature in action. You won't be sorry! "Año Nuevo"....happy new year!
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