Elephant Seal leaving the sea in Punta Valdez Peninsula, Chubut, Argentina

Punta Delgada is a locality and tourist resort on the Valdes Peninsula in Biedma Department in the north of the province of Chubut, Argentina. It is situated on...
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Punta Delgada is a locality and tourist resort on the Valdes Peninsula in Biedma Department in the north of the province of Chubut, Argentina. It is situated on the Golfo Nuevo. The main attractions are a colony of elephant seals and an active lighthouse built in 1905. Elephant Seals are large, oceangoing earless seals the Southern Elephant Seals were hunted to the brink of extinction for oil by the end of the 19th century, but their numbers have since recovered. They are the largest extant carnivorous, weighing up to 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb). Elephant seals are shielded from extreme cold more by their blubber than by fur. Their hair and outer layers of skin molt in large patches (that is the case with the one shown in this photo). The skin has to be regrown by blood vessels reaching through the blubber. When molting occurs, the seal is susceptible to the cold, and must rest on land, in a safe place.
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