Male northern elephant seals face off on the beach by vocalizing through their extended noses, called proboscises. Every winter, when the seals return to the beach where they were born to breed, males arrive first to tussle for territory. The winners of these fights are the "alpha" males, and they get the biggest and best territories. After the beachfront property is divvied among the alpha males, the females arrive for breeding. Learn about how scientists track elephant seals with satellite tags at the Census of Marine Life.
Celebrating marine moms for mother's day.
Nick Pyenson excavating toothed whale fossils
Where have all the reef sharks gone?
Oil Spill Two Years Later
Our Ocean Planet - Earth Day 2012
Amazing Ocean Mobile App
Smithsonian Scientists Describe a New Fossil Whale, Bohaskaia monodontoides
X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside Out, a Smithsonian Exhibit of Fish X-Rays
Multispecies Communities of Seacows
The Perfect Underwater Photo
Nicholas D. Pyenson - May 11, 2012
Nicholas D. Pyenson - May 7, 2012
For Eductors
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Robert Schwemmer, CINMS, NOAA




