1985 <p>A major breeding colony of northern elephant seals,&nbsp;<span id="_mce_caret" data-mce-bogus="true"><i>Mirounga angustirostris</i><span id="_mce_caret" data-mce-bogus="true">, occurs on San Nicolas&nbsp;Island, California. Due to commercial hunting, elephant seals were extinct on San Nicolas Island by the end of the 19th century. Subsequent recovery of the population has been well documented (Table 1). Census data collected since 1949 indicate that the colony has been growing rapidly in numbers after breeding began again in the late 1940s.</span></span></p> application/pdf en California Department of Fish and Wildlife Pup production, abundance, and breeding distribution of northern elephant seals at San Nicolas Island, winter 1981 article