Seaside Aquarium says ‘share the shore' with young elephant seal resting on beach
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Local experts are cautioning beachgoers to 'share the shore' after a young elephant seal was found lounging on the Seaside beach Tuesday morning.
According to the Seaside Aquarium, the seal is going through its annual 'molt,' where they shed their fur and outer layer of skin on land. As dramatic as this sounds, they aquarium assures it is a completely normal process and the animal is just resting.
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'It does not need to be fed and do not pour water on this animal; it can get to the water on its own,' they added.
During molting, elephant seals can stay in the same place for weeks at a time. As a result, the aquarium says to stay at least 100 yards away from the seal and keep dogs on a leash.
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The animal is also being monitored by volunteers with the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
The northern elephant seal is the largest in the Northern Hemisphere, the Seaside Aquarium says. In particular, the adult males are known for their distinctive, inflatable noses they use to vocally threaten other males during winter breeding season.
Additionally, they have one of the longest migrations of any mammal, with some having traveled over 13,000 miles roundtrip.
Northern elephant seals are also a conservation success story. Once thought to be extinct because of commercial sealing in the 1800s, a small population survived in Mexico and began to increase in the early 1900s.
Now, wildlife officials estimate that there are around 150,000 total elephant seals, around the size it was before hunting. The largest colonies of northern elephant seals are found off southern California in the Channel Islands.
Further, the elephant seal and all marine mammals are currently protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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