Island webcam is working!

The webcam located on Año Nuevo Island has been
fixed and is now streaming a live view of the island.

Check back throughout the year to see all of the various
species of marine mammals and birds!

Click Here for the video stream

Explore a 3D elephant seal track!

Would you like a chance to explore a three-dimensional

elephant seal track using google earth?

Download this google earth KMZ file:

3D_Elephant_seal_track.kmz

To view this track, first be sure you have "google earth"

installed on your computer.  (it is available for free online).

If you would like assistance navigating within google earth

please watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFBVK3cOWNI

Click Here to read a scientific paper about elephant seals

foraging on seamounts.

Juvenile gray whale spends a month at Año Nuevo

A juvenile gray whale was observed by Pat Morris just

offshore from Ano Nuevo Island on several occasions during

the last month.  She also observed some interesting interactions

between the whale and the local sea lion population!

Año Nuevo seals in Canada!

Elephant seals are being seen more often on the
beaches in Canada. Click here for more info.

This past molting season, biologist Paul Cottrell
(Fisheries and Oceans Canada) found ~40 individuals.
At least two of them (both juveniles) were carrying
green flipper tags from Año Nuevo!  Observations like
these help scientists learn about movement and
demographic patterns.

UPDATE:  Check out the amazing website set up by the
researchers at Race Rocks... including webcams!
http://www.racerocks.ca/wp/home/

Photos of elephant seal prey!

UC Santa Cruz collaborators attached small customized infrared cameras
to the head of elephant seals and captured these images of two prey species.
These fish were captured at more than 500 meters in depth far offshore
in the northeast Pacific and represent the first glimpse of elephant seal
feeding behavior!

Click here for the full scientific paper!

UCSC marine mammals class visits Año Nuevo

The UC Santa Cruz "biology of marine mammals"

class taught by Jen Maresh visited Año Nuevo

today to see the last few molting male elephant seals.

New Visitor Center Displays Highlight Research

We recently installed a new display at the Año Nuevo

Marine Education Center to highlight the elephant seal

research program.  Below are the two presentations

currently being displayed:

New video about mercury in elephant seals

Check out this new video highlighting the study being
conducted by Sarah Peterson, a graduate student at
UC Santa Cruz. She is studying how toxic mercury
builds up in top predators like elephant seals.

click here to see the video

KQED

One of the researchers who recently worked
at Año Nuevo as part of her PhD dissertation
on elephant seal diving physiology will be an
astronaut at NASA.
Congratulations, Jessica Meir!

Click here for the full story

Click here to see her published elephant seal study

New satellite tracking data!

We are deploying satellite tags on a new group of
adult female northern elephant seals that are about
to depart on their long post-molt migration.
Click HERE to view the latest tracking data.
(it is updated daily, so check back often!)

Male elephant seal travels into the Bering Sea!

An adult male elephant seal was satellite-tagged earlier
this year and has now traveled all the way through the
Aleutian Islands into the Bering Sea.  This is a very rare
behavior!  Click this link for daily updates on
his position:
http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?tag_id=56483

New article focused on Año Nuevo!

Click here for a great summary of what makes

Ano Nuevo such an amazing place.

Elephant seals on our local NPR station!

A short radio piece about elephant seals on our local
NPR radio station...  CLICK HERE!

ABC News Story

Ano Nuevo is getting some national media attention yet again.
Click here to read the latest story from ABC News!

ABC News - Elephant Seals Could Reveal Insights on Planet's Health (ABC News)

Who’s eating all the fish?

A brief description of how Año Nuevo Island is helping salmon researchers understand fish predation:
Click Here!

Real-time elephant seal tracking data from the Costa Lab!

Searching for Salmon Tags

Researches search Año Nuevo Island for small salmon ID

tags that are "deposited" by predators.  Thousands of

salmon are tagged each year in the surrounding area

and the tags found at Año Nuevo provide important

information on predation rates.

UC Santa Cruz class learns about seal research

The UC Santa Cruz class entitled "Field Methods in Large
Marine Vertebrates" visits Año Nuevo to learn about
the ongoing research on elephant seals.

Here is an animation showing the 3D dive path of an elephant

seal traveling through Monterey Bay on the way back to Año

Nuevo.  The colors represent the amount of oxygen remaining

throughout the dives (warm colors = more oxygen).

Data courtesy of Dr. Jessica Meir.

Questions and Answers...

Q:  Do you know what creature in the elephant
seal diet causes their poop to be orange?

A:  Surprisingly, it's actually not from any prey item.
The seals don't eat much during the last week or two
of their migration, so most of the contents of the gut
are expelled before the seals even reach land.  The
color is thought to be from the continual processing
of red blood cells throughout the fast.  The red/orange
color is derived from the hemoglobin pigment.  Each
red blood cell has a relatively short life, so they are
constantly being replenished... and elephant seals
have a LOT of red blood cells!

The New York Times

Check out this New York Times article highlighting our recent work.

First female elephant seal returned to Año Nuevo Island

Satellite track of a seal during her long post-molt migration.
She swam over 10,000 km in total!

A view from Año Nuevo Island!

Looking north from the boardwalk over the habitat restoration area.

Scientific Papers Now Available!

Click Here to access scientific papers published by the scientists working at Año Nuevo.

        

Bill Henry's Moss Landing Marine Labs Class Field Trip

Students learn how to track an elephant seal using a VHF receiver.

The class poses for a group photo at north point