08:49 SANTA CRUZ-Only a few California elephant seals are known to cross the International Date Line, according to Patrick Robinson, director of the Año Nuevo Island Reserve, North of Santa Cruz. Rarely do they have one cross the date line in the Pacific Ocean about 3,000 miles west of Año Nuevo. “Having one pass the International Date Line is unusual,” Robinson’s team said. “Having four pass is unheard of.” They believe that population increases or warming ocean temperatures might be pushing these elephant seals to forage farther out in the ocean. They suspect females elephant seals prefer to eat squid out in the Pacific, while male elephant seals eat bottom-dwelling animals such as rays and hagfish near the shore. The whereabouts of the Año Nuevo elephant seals can be tracked at seaturtle.org.
