The Friends of the Elephant Seal Docents/Guides frequently welcome visitors from all over the world to Piedras Blancas.
In a muilti-year project, Brandt Kehoe collected a fantastic collection of native language speakers presenting seasonal facts about northern elephant seals in 14 different languages! These are valuable multilingual resources for our guides and visitors.
We have further developed the collection to include seasonal video presentations in each language, now available on our Friends of the Elephant Seal YouTube Channel. Images and videos were contributed by Max Fowles, Leo Dewinter,James Mentgen and Kathleen Curtis. Many thanks to Brandt Kehoe and all the translators and narrators who made this project possible.
The following short videos present the basics about elephant seals during the spring and summer molt. Each of the following links go to a video in the designated language, with accompanying same language text in the video description. Take a look and feel free to share.
ENGLISH
SPANISH
CHINESE (SIMPLIFIED)
CHINESE (TRADITIONAL)
DANISH
DUTCH
FILIPINO
FRENCH
GERMAN
GREEK
ITALIAN
JAPANESE
PORTUGUESE
RUSSIAN
*In case you are wondering, what is a MoltingMirounga? Mirounga Angustirostris is the scientific name for the species, Northern Elephant Seals. We honor their unique characteristics and lives everyday. Northern elephant seals are a species that sheds the top layer of their hair and skin (molting) once a year, while growing new skin. They are on the beach for 4-6 weeks during this time. It is a wonderful time to see them!