Steven Sealberg

Last week our favorite Perth beach was invaded and temporarily taken over by a 2000 kg sub-adult Elephant Seal.  These behemoths are typically found in Antarctic waters but occasionally they will venture north to Australia.  Even so, it's very unusual for Elephant Seals to loiter on urban beaches in Western Australia.  He created quite a stir in the city to the point where the local wildlife enforcement people had to put up a fence around him.  He even got his own Twitter account at https://twitter.com/sorrentoseal.

Steven was with us for about a week, although, he had the occasional break from the beach, the crowds and the hot temperatures when he disappeared back into the Indian Ocean.  Since Sorrento Beach is only a few minutes away, we took some time to visit Steven.

 Keva and Nadia standing behind the fence along with dozens of others watching Steven's every non-move.  Elephant Seals are really lazy.  This one was a teenager so double the laziness factor.  There was a lot of scratching, sleeping and belching involved.  Did I mention he's like a teenager?

A closer look at Steven.  Normally Elephant Seals haul up on the beach to rest (like Steven) or to breed or to give birth.  Unfortunately for Steven he's only 2000 kg and therefore still about 1 metric tonne shy of being able to compete for prime beach real estate with the big boys.  But he had our favorite beach all to himself.

Hopefully Steven comes back.  There was an Elephant Seal that went to the Exmouth area (where we're visiting in April) and stayed for 3 months.  So, perhaps if we're lucky Steven will decide to make Perth his crash pad until he's old enough to move in somewhere a little more respectful.