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Año Nuevo celebrity seal Mr. Elliot crawls along the dunes during Seal Adventure Saturday at the State Park, in 2012. Elliot, a three-ton male, wears scars along his neck from when, as a yearling, he had a plastic toilet seat stuck around his head. (Photo by Charles Russo)

Now is the time to visit the world famous NorCal breeding grounds.

In the animal kingdom, the seal family won’t be winning any prizes in the glamour category. You’ll understand this if you’ve ever watched one galumphing across the sand, head bobbing vigorously as it hefts along its bulky body. It also doesn’t help that they make sounds similar to a sick dog. And among its flippered brethren, nothing beats the pound for pound fugliness of the male Northern elephant seal. They’re like grey Jabba the Huts or 5,000-pound blubber slugs with big, bulbous noses called proboscises (why they share that term with the delicate hummingbird, we’ll never understand). […]

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