A long way from home

This magnificent elephant seal has decided to use one of Perth's northern beaches as a haul out spot to rest and is causing quite a stir within the local community!

He came ashore sometime Tues night/wed morning and has stayed put since then. Marine parks and wildlife estimate he is about 6 years old and weighs about two tonne - just a teenager in elephant seal terms! He looks to be going through a moult and are more vulnerable in the water during this stage so he's using the northern suburb beach of Sorrento to haul-out during this time. He is a long way from home and it's rare to see an elephant seal this far north, usually sticking to sub-antartic waters. However, one hauled out further north at Exmouth a while back and stuck around for five years!

So at this stage he could be around for five days or he could be around for a month - maybe even years! Marine park rangers have erected a barrier fence around him and there are staff watching over him 24/7 to make sure people keep a safe distance and leave him alone. They will continue to do so until he decides to move off.

He's become a superstar since hauling out and apparently even has his own twitter account - but is yet to be named. You may be seeing alot more of this guy if he decided to hang out in Perth for a while longer!