A Northern Elephant Seals lies among other seals on the beach at Point Piedras Blancas seal rookery near Cambria, California. Hunted to near extinction in the 1800's for the oil that could be rendered from their skins. Today, there are approximately 160,000 Northern Elephant seals. The Elephant Seals were first spotted at Point Piedras Blancas in 1990 and the first birth occurred in 1992. In April and May the female and juvenile seals molt at a catastrophic rate losing their hair all at once.