Elephant Seal birth of baby ninene





Mirounga angustirostris			*Ninene Returns to Vancouver Island April 15, 2009*


At 4:00 on the afternoon of April 15 2009 Garry is walking his dog and discovers that Ninene has arrived back in Canada	She has been on the sandy part of Taylor beach , has just gone to the water to get cooled off ...

and starts back up the shore to the dry sand	She is now 2 and a half months old.


Looking much better than when we last saw her..	She now only has to contend with humans and their dogs.	The tags were added in Port Angeles by NOAA which has jurisdiction in the US over whales,dolphins,porpoises,seals and sea lions.

She rests high up on the beach at the top end of the trail in the sand.	Close up of tags on both sides of her rear flippers.	The first elephant seal born in Canada lies near the Sir James Douglas rock. William Head is in the distance and behind it is Race Rocks.
		When she was banded and observed in Washington, several researchers there believed that Ninene did not gain as much weight with her mother as she should have, so she is considered to be underweight for her age. So at this point she still is in a vulnerable situation and we hope she is able to forage well and put on more weight very soon.
Nine scratching scar tissue on her healing wounds. See the video linked here for an action shot.	Video of her on the beach April 15, 2009

What a pleasant surprize to see little Ninene this afternoon down in front of my home on Taylor Beach on Southern Vancouver Island. She has come through a load of problems and remarkably has made it this far. She was born on Race Rocks on January 30, 2009. Was weaned four weeks later when her mother left, was then badly beaten up by a young aggressive male, who was then driven off by Slash an older male, possibly her father, then she stayed on Race Rocks alone until March 30 without feeding, She then left Race Rocks on March 30, and arrived in Port Angeles on April 7, was moved from downtown to Ediz Hook Coastguard station. and then disappeared the next day. She showed up at 2 and a half months age on Taylor Beach in Metchosin , Southern Vancouver Island. In the past few weeks has travelled well over 50 kilometres.

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of Ninene

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Mirounga angustirostris