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Footage shows a startled family retreating as an enormous elephant seal hauls ashore to rest in Mulege, Baja California Sur.
–FTW Outdoors periodically reposts unique or compelling video clips that we’ve featured over the years. The accompanying footage shows a massive elephant seal – they can weigh 4,500 pounds – hauling ashore in Mulege , Mexico, in July 2022, disrupting a family beach outing.
Click here to view the story or simply enjoy the video, courtesy of Noticias CD Constitucion bcs:
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Surreal footage showing a massive elephant seal hauling onto shore at a Mexican beach, startling beachgoers, is worth another look.
A news report on elephant seal bulls “surfing up onto the sand” for the molting season at a famous California rookery reminded me of an extraordinary event that occurred last July in Mexico.
The accompanying footage shows a massive elephant seal hauling out and frightening a family of beachgoers in Mulegé on the Sea of Cortez.
Mulegé is not an established rookery and this family probably had never experienced a close encounter with a creature so large and ominous-looking.
It turned out that the wayward mammal, which was spotted multiple times, was simply resting before returning to sea.
Northern elephant seals are the largest ‘true’ seals in the Northern Hemisphere and can weigh as much as 5,000 pounds. Their range includes the eastern and central North Pacific, from Alaska to Baja California.
They spend most of their time feeding at sea and typically come ashore at rookeries only to give birth, breed, and molt. Elephant seals can dive 2,500 feet in search of prey. They feed primarily on squid and fish, including sharks and rays.
The nearest significant elephant seal rookery to Mulegé is hundreds of miles away and around the Baja California peninsula, at Guadalupe Island west of Ensenada.
A family enjoying a beach day in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur was frightened by a massive elephant seal that emerged on the shore and approached the group.
A family enjoying a beach day in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur was frightened by a massive elephant seal that emerged on the shore and approached the group.
The accompanying footage, captured in the municipality of Mulege, shows the blubbery mammal approaching the family as a woman screams and a child tries to remain brave.
News CD Constitution BCS shared no other information, but it appears as though the elephant seal was merely looking for a suitable resting spot.
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Northern elephant seals are the largest “true” seals in the Northern Hemisphere and can weigh as much as 5,000 pounds. Their range includes the eastern and central North Pacific, from Alaska to Baja California.
Except during breeding season from December through March, they spend most of their time feeding at sea. Elephant seals can dive 2,500 feet in search of prey. They feed primarily on squid and fish, including sharks and rays.
Justin Hofman’s southern elephant seal image is remarkable, but apparently not remarkable enough as a doctored version has gone viral.
Justin Hofman’s southern elephant seal image is remarkable: head out of the water, snout pointed skyward, bulbous eyes staring into the lens, whiskers probing….
But apparently the image, shared recently via Instagram, was not remarkable enough. Somebody doctored the photo, without permission, to give the massive pinniped an even more comical appearance.
Can you tell which of the images posted above is the original? (Answer revealed in social media posts below.)
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Hofman told For The Win Outdoors that the image he shared three weeks ago was captured in 2011 in Antarctica. The post garnered nearly 12,000 likes and was widely shared on marine mammal-themed social media pages.
However, the photoshopped version went viral thanks to multiple appearances on Imgur and Reddit, with no photographer attribution. The image also circulated via Twitter and Facebook, and many were fooled into thinking it was unaltered.
As viewers can see, the doctored version features what looks like a mouth and nose beneath the eyes. Other tweaks to the whiskered area make it appear as though the mammal is wearing a hairpiece, while its human-like face stares into the camera.
In the original photo, the mouth and chin are on the other side of the seal’s head, facing away from the camera. Viewers are looking at the top of the head.
This shrewd manipulation was carried out without permission of the photographer. However, when reached over the weekend, Hofman seemed to be a good sport.
Justin Hofman took a photo of a southern elephant seal. Of course the photoshopped version is now being circulated. Instagram source: https://t.co/YFLCMB6tbi pic.twitter.com/d22veLHgPz
— HoaxEye (@hoaxeye) January 13, 2020
“The Internet is a lawless place, but I don’t really mind it,” he said. “It’s all done with good intentions and I appreciate anything that makes people laugh.”
