In May, the beach is covered in seals. Even elephant seal researcher Sarah Kienle was impressed when she and her family drove south from Santa Cruz to give Cambrians an update on her work.
“I’ve been here in the offseason, so I’ve never seen them line the beach like this,” she said.
Kienle’s research focus is on how marine mammals feed in the deep. Elephant seals, which feed at 1,000 feet and deeper, are her target research subjects. She’s in the third year of what she expects to be six years to earning her Ph.D. at UC Santa Cruz.