San Miguel Island
General Information
Once thought to be extinct, the northern elephant seal currently hauls-out on 15 rookeries with their largest coloney located on San Miguel Island. Located off the coast of Santa Barbara California, San Miguel is the western most island of the nine channel islands. It is a windswept pleateu approximately 120-150 meters in elevation, 13 kilometers long and 6 kilometers wide (Greer1). First seen on this island in 1925 the seals did not start breeding here until the 1950's. With 84 pups counted on San Miguel in 1958, the population on this island rapidly increased with 13,884 births recorded in 1991. In 1991 studies showed that this island accounted for 49.5% of all of northern elephant seal births (Le Boeuf et al. Chapter 2).
Channel Islands General
San Miguel Home Page