The Scratchy Story of Moulting Molly

 Elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction around 100 years ago and have been gradually making a comeback in the last decade. This summer we were lucky enough to have a young female elephant seal live on Ambleside beach for about a month during her moult. While we have seen elephant seals in the past, this was certainly the closest we are likely to get to one and without the rocking of a boat to unsteady our photos.

Though they are the largest of the seals, there is a huge degree of sexual dimorphism within the species so females are often less than half the size of the males. As a young female, Molly was not much bigger than a california sea lion to begin with and certainly lost weight during her month on the sand.

Each year they undergo what is called a 'catastrophic moult' where they spend a 25 days or more shedding their skin and fur to bring in a new coat for the coming year. This is not only incredibly itchy, but it leaves the poor animals looking pretty rough and mangy for during a perfectly natural part of their lifecycle. This was so poorly understood until recently that even in the 90s the Department of Fisheries and Oceans would put down any moulting elephant seals they found, thinking that they were suffering rather than just hitting their annual puberty.