Jacques Fortier Photography

Northern Elephant Seals are a huge conservation success story. They were hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century, as a prized source of lubricant and lamp oil. They were believed extinct until an 1892 Smithsonian expedition found a small colony with eight individuals far off the coast of Mexico. To document this momentous find, the explorers killed all but one of seals and took the carcasses as specimens (what a different time it was).

It took another 30 years for Northern Elephant Seals to be officially protected. The Mexican government took the first step, banning elephant seal hunting and posting a garrison on an island with a newly discovered congregation. Their population has rebounded in the last century, with over 200,000 individuals and a breeding range from the middle of the Baja coast to the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The U.S. Channel Islands off Santa Barbara host the vast majority of the U.S. population, but a few thousand call Northern California home.