Tagging of Pacific Predators - Penelope Seal

Penelope Seal

Penelope Seal is an elephant seal and one of the many marine animals tagged as a part of the TOPP program.

Penelope was born as a "little" 90 lb (41 kg) pup in early January 1998 at the Año Nuevo State Reserve on the Californian coast. Since then, she has become a 1,500 lb (680 kg) full grown female northern elephant seal with six pups of her own, and many fans who have contributed to her fame. From five years old, she has had one pup a year, all at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Penelope Seal is known as gnarly seal and a survivor, considering 50% of her species will die before they reach maturity. She has beautiful dark-brown fur that she molts (or sheds) once a year. The beach is a known hangout spot of hers and one can usually spot her basking in the sun, or if its raining, cuddling up to another elephant seal. She has had multiple relationships, never known to be a monogamous seal, and in fact living in a polygynous society. The group, or harem, is made up of many other females and an alpha male with which Penelope has been known to hang out. However, Penelope has also been seen socializing with some other beta males around the harem, much to the dismay of the alpha.

• Early life

Penelope spent her early life as a weaner, or weaned pup, at Año Nuevo State Reserve. During this time she fasted on the beach waiting until she was brave enough to go out into the open ocean for the first time. The next year she became a yearling and spent her days being shunned from her harem, since she was still small compared to the others. Years two and three were spent much the same way. During this period she learned a lot about how to become a successful predator, like being able to travel all the way out into the northern Pacific Ocean and back again without any maps, and making it to the same place every time, which can be around an 8,000 mi (13,000 km) journey. However, when she was four years old, she became pregnant with her first pup and gave birth to him 10 months later at Año Nuevo State Reserve.

• Tagging

Penelope is tagged with a small tag and collects data for the TOPP team's researchers. Penelope's tag has a time depth recorder, which documents the dive depth, dive duration, and light levels. Elephant seals are incredible divers and allow scientists to learn about their unique behavior and the environment in which they live. Elephant seals are prime candidates for tagging because they tend to return to the same beach every year to breed, yielding high tag recovery. They can gather immense amounts of information because they can swim for thousands of miles. Penelope herself has been involved with the University of California, Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab researchers and was tagged last year.

• Current

Penelope has since had her seventh pup, and is living on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Reserve. She was not tagged this year. Stelephant Colbert has since taken on the challenge of promoting elephant seals, and has been quite successful.

Penelope is featured on the new version of Ocean Google Earth, which allows the user to explore the oceans. Penelope can be located at Año Nuevo State Reserve.

Penelope Seal has been the star of Elephant Seal Homecoming Days for the past two years. She enabled TOPP to engage the public in learning about northern elephant seals, marine science, and marine conservation.