Aquarium of the Pacific

Aquarium Event

A Seal’s Life

The Story of the Northern Elephant Seal

For hundreds of thousands of years an extraordinary journey has taken place in the ocean. Twice a year along the West Coast, elephant seals set out alone on a nearly impossible roundtrip migration across the North Pacific. For months they remain at sea, swimming thousands of miles while diving to unimaginable depths in search of food. By journey's end, they will have traveled a migration comparable only to that of the gray whale.

Join us for a screening of A Seal's Life and discussion with filmmaker Drew Wharton. The documentary details the life and habitat of the Northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris), one of the greatest migratory marine mammals ever to inhabit the sea. Filming took over two years to complete and occurred at such locations as Año Nuevo State Reserve, the Channel Islands, Piedras Blancas, the Farallon Islands, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Isla de Guadalupe, Mexico. Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and world renowned ocean explorer and advocate, narrates this inspiring story of survival, resilience, and hope.

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© Bob Cranston

An elephant seal pokes his head out of the kelp.

Dr. Sylvia Earle (narrator) and Drew Wharton (filmmaker) in the studio.