15 + 5 points
Regular Animal Documentation by Galán de noche
April 24th, 2007 4:21 PM
O monstrous beast, how like a swine he lies!
Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!
Dearest players,
This week has brought upon us here a tragedy of the highest magnitude, a terrifying ordeal for the gentle people and quiet denizens of the foggy coast. A great beast - truly monstrous, foul and loathsome - has reared its ugly head... nay its mouth, one of the ugliest of all, and has laid waste to the lives of solitude-seeking seals and surfers from campbell to gualala.
Now not to rush into it too quickly... this task's description makes it clear that one should be documenting and observing on a regular basis. Well, it's tough to see these beasts so regularly, living in the city and not in a small coastal hamlet, but I've been out at the ocean every summer for some years now, and each summer we've by chance come across an elephant seal. Two summers ago, I'm convinced that I acquainted myself with the very individual in question, now known as "Nibbles." Not sure as to why he earned that particular moniker and not, I don't know, "Death Munchie" or "the Devourer" or "Engorger" or something like that. So, it's been infrequently, perhaps, but regularly by some measure.
With a few friends, I had visited the town of Jenner, at the mouth of the Russian River, during a road trip down Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast. We started up in Mendocino and came all the way back down to the Bay, stopping at a few frigid camping sites and areas of botanic/ geographic/ zoologic/ historic/ beer-related interest. (The last referring to a brewery in Mendocino town - lugar lindissimo! - that served us fine food, delectable drink and overall practiced hospitality of the first order). Anyway, after a few days of bliss, we arrived in Jenner from the North. You can see the beach and across the river during your approach on the highway. There is an expansive public beach and the area of the mouth of the river is exposed at high tide, allowing the crowds to walk along its length. (See map below, courtesy of the Chronicle.)
We stopped the car on the south side of the river and enjoyed the sunny day and light breeze at the ocean's edge. Nonetheless, rude and invasive noises caught us by surprise and drew us away from the surf towards the river. Much like this week, there was a gi-normous elephant seal basking and braying while beached on the brown sand. Children were curious and approached cautiously, but their parents kept them at a safe distance. We, fearless, went to observe and document.
Now I have to say, elephant seals are one strange breed. They look like aliens, don't smell too good, make loud noises, and generally scare the pants off of anyone not used to odd marine life. This one in particular was HUGE and couldn't move very much as it was out of the water.
As for lifestyle, it must be an easy one, though I wouldn't want to be an elephant seal, personally. They seem rather like barflies, gently drunk and silly-stupid most of the time, but then something pisses them off and they run around breaking things like there's no tomorrow. They must be at least a little intelligent, but it seems like all they do is eat, roar, and sunbathe. Not bad except they get so annoying.
Now, fast-forward to April 2007. I've been hearing rumors of a particularly nasty, overly aggressive seal on the web. Remembering that I'd seen that x-tra large one in recent times, I thought, 'maybe it's about that time to take a beach trip so we can see some more freakish biology' but I haven't gotten my rear in gear just yet. En lieu of this, you can see some official documentation of the beast coming back for seconds. Blogs are apparently the only way to get your news anymore, so I try and browse them when time allows. In the past week or so, I noticed some news items... and then today it finally made the front page of the Chronicle!! For those of you who don't live in the area, it's quite scary to see a headline in such large font.
Just saw this one
Rogue seal...
Other news calls him 'the seal gone bad', the 'rogue seal', the 'seal who has no one'.
I apologize for not documenting the links as I read them, for there are so many people out there writing about it. You're advised to do a sweep of the internet and I guarantee a chuckle or three.
Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!
Dearest players,
This week has brought upon us here a tragedy of the highest magnitude, a terrifying ordeal for the gentle people and quiet denizens of the foggy coast. A great beast - truly monstrous, foul and loathsome - has reared its ugly head... nay its mouth, one of the ugliest of all, and has laid waste to the lives of solitude-seeking seals and surfers from campbell to gualala.
Now not to rush into it too quickly... this task's description makes it clear that one should be documenting and observing on a regular basis. Well, it's tough to see these beasts so regularly, living in the city and not in a small coastal hamlet, but I've been out at the ocean every summer for some years now, and each summer we've by chance come across an elephant seal. Two summers ago, I'm convinced that I acquainted myself with the very individual in question, now known as "Nibbles." Not sure as to why he earned that particular moniker and not, I don't know, "Death Munchie" or "the Devourer" or "Engorger" or something like that. So, it's been infrequently, perhaps, but regularly by some measure.
With a few friends, I had visited the town of Jenner, at the mouth of the Russian River, during a road trip down Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast. We started up in Mendocino and came all the way back down to the Bay, stopping at a few frigid camping sites and areas of botanic/ geographic/ zoologic/ historic/ beer-related interest. (The last referring to a brewery in Mendocino town - lugar lindissimo! - that served us fine food, delectable drink and overall practiced hospitality of the first order). Anyway, after a few days of bliss, we arrived in Jenner from the North. You can see the beach and across the river during your approach on the highway. There is an expansive public beach and the area of the mouth of the river is exposed at high tide, allowing the crowds to walk along its length. (See map below, courtesy of the Chronicle.)
We stopped the car on the south side of the river and enjoyed the sunny day and light breeze at the ocean's edge. Nonetheless, rude and invasive noises caught us by surprise and drew us away from the surf towards the river. Much like this week, there was a gi-normous elephant seal basking and braying while beached on the brown sand. Children were curious and approached cautiously, but their parents kept them at a safe distance. We, fearless, went to observe and document.
Now I have to say, elephant seals are one strange breed. They look like aliens, don't smell too good, make loud noises, and generally scare the pants off of anyone not used to odd marine life. This one in particular was HUGE and couldn't move very much as it was out of the water.
As for lifestyle, it must be an easy one, though I wouldn't want to be an elephant seal, personally. They seem rather like barflies, gently drunk and silly-stupid most of the time, but then something pisses them off and they run around breaking things like there's no tomorrow. They must be at least a little intelligent, but it seems like all they do is eat, roar, and sunbathe. Not bad except they get so annoying.
Now, fast-forward to April 2007. I've been hearing rumors of a particularly nasty, overly aggressive seal on the web. Remembering that I'd seen that x-tra large one in recent times, I thought, 'maybe it's about that time to take a beach trip so we can see some more freakish biology' but I haven't gotten my rear in gear just yet. En lieu of this, you can see some official documentation of the beast coming back for seconds. Blogs are apparently the only way to get your news anymore, so I try and browse them when time allows. In the past week or so, I noticed some news items... and then today it finally made the front page of the Chronicle!! For those of you who don't live in the area, it's quite scary to see a headline in such large font.
Just saw this one
Rogue seal...
Other news calls him 'the seal gone bad', the 'rogue seal', the 'seal who has no one'.
I apologize for not documenting the links as I read them, for there are so many people out there writing about it. You're advised to do a sweep of the internet and I guarantee a chuckle or three.
HOME VIDEO FOOTAGE of Nibbles the crazy seal