Documentary follows the lives of Año Nuevo elephant seals

A new documentary by a Soquel filmmaker shows elephant seals are making a massive comeback from near-extinction, reports Metro Santa Cruz.

The fattened young pups are left onshore to figure out for themselves how to enter the water, dive for fish and make a 10,000-mile solo migration that makes their species the unparalleled distance runners of the mammalian universe, outstripping even the accomplishments of the gray whale.

The 25 percent of pups who evade starvation and white shark attacks during this vulnerable period will repeat an astounding annual cycle, migrating to feeding grounds in the Northern Pacific twice each year, diving as deep as a mile for fish and for up to an hour at a time along the way. They’ll return to the rookeries of their births once in summer to molt and once in winter to pup and breed. The males, 14 to 16 feet long and weighing up to 5,000 pounds, will battle furiously for mating rights to entire harems of females, which are much smaller at 10-12 feet and 1,200-2,000 pounds. While on terra firma, both sexes will fast.

Their serial migration is a feat that never ceases to amaze Soquel filmmaker Drew Wharton.

There’s a good audio story about this on NPR’s site as well as a great photo gallery and trailer for the film at Wharton’s site.