Me: Wanna hang out? Friend: Sure! Us: On channelislandsnps’s remote San Miguel Island, over 50,000 northern elephant seals breed and pup each winter. They return to the islands in the summer after several months of feeding to molt. Many pinnipeds (a group of fin-footed marine mammal species including seals and sea lions) molt continuously throughout the year, but elephant seals undergo a 'catastrophic' molt, where they shed both their fur and the upper layer of their skin during a weeks-long period. Image: Two elephant seal pups lie facing each other on the beach on San Miguel Island. NPS / Reuven Bank #ChannelIslandsNationalPark #MarineConservation #ElephantSeal #bff