What can an elephant seal – a 4,000 pound, bellowing monstrosity that looks like a melted Yankee Candle – teach us about the world? Plenty, it turns out. “The animals are amazing. I mean, everything ...

Much of the eastern United States is currently undergoing a massive polar vortex, with another one expected to follow. Meanwhile, California basks in the sunshine. These conditions set the stage for ...

Elephant seals are being used as nature's artificial intelligence to monitor the health of the oceans -- especially the little-known "twilight zone," an ecosystem abundant with fish that could soon be ...

The UC Santa Cruz elephant seal research program began in 1967 when Professor Emeritus Burney Le Boeuf initiated a systematic tagging and censusing project at the Año Nuevo Reserve. This long-term ...

Elephant seals are huge, gray and blubbery. They have a big snout and a very distinctive voice. (SOUNDBITE OF ELEPHANT SEAL GRUNTING) SUMMERS: But despite the obvious differences, elephant seals ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Close-up portrait of a Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina) showing detailed textures of its face and skin during molting ...

Northern elephant seal at Año Nuevo Natural Reserve. (Credit: Dan Costa; photo taken under research permit NMFS 23188) Over the past 60 years, marine biologists at UC Santa Cruz have monitored the ...

A subadult male elephant seal can be seen near sea lions. Subadult elephant seals and sea lions frequently intermingle at rookeries along Península Valdés in Argentina. Close contact between pinniped ...

In October, Friends of the Elephant Seal docents saw a seal with an entanglement around his neck on the beach at Piedras Blancas. He was at the far south end, difficult to observe — but that plastic ...

On a beach in San Francisco, a crowd gathers to watch an elephant seal as it writhes in the sand. Concern increases as onlookers wonder what’s wrong with the animal. It seems to be in pain, but is not ...