Molly McCormley at UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab, CA—Alpha males are the KINGS of the elephant seals!  They have not only survived, but have become the most successful males of their species.  Considering that only 1 in 10 males will ever become alpha, these guys are rockstars!

E Seal males return to the beach to establish their dominance before females return.  Males establish dominance in two ways, by intimidating other males and if that doesn’t work...by fighting until the other male backs down.  Alphas use their large nose, or proboscis, to create loud drumming and belching sounds and hold heads high in the air demonstrating their immense size. The bigger the male, the more often they are able to scare off with their loud vocalizations and large size.
Two males vocalizing to each other at Año Nuevo State Reserve.  This may escalate to an actual fight if one of them doesn't back down soon!  Photo: Molly McCormley

Sometimes however, the males are not intimidated by vocalizing. That is when they fight! To fight, they use their incredible neck muscles and their 2-3 ton body size to hit each other, using their teeth to rip.

A male who actually won the battle!  Notice how his neck if all beat up, that from the teeth of the opposing male! Photo: Nicole Teutschel

These dominance display establish three major groupings of males, loser, beta, and of course ALPHA!  The alpha will control his own harem of females, while the other male strategies range from loners, to subdominant males.

Maintaining a harem is a lot of work. Most alphas aren’t able to keep their position for very long. Some a few minutes, maybe hours, or if they’re lucky if they can maintain a harem for days, weeks or months!  It’s hard fighting off males, mating with females, and fasting for up to the 100 days all at the same time! 
An alpha male is guarding his harem from a beta male hoping to overthrow him.  Photo: Molly McCormley

Un-like the females, males will stay on the beach during the whole breeding season: late December to early March.

Alphas are the TOP(P) predators and know how to be a successful elephant seal.  They are what every male elephant seal yearns to be and what some will never be.  They truly represent the ELEPHANT in the seal!

An alpha lying next to a pup, look how huge they are!  Photo: Molly McCormley

 Stay tuned for more Day in the Life blogs! If you’d like to learn more check out the E Seal species page and the Elephant Seal Homcoming Days Page!