Natural Highs

Go out in the world and see the animals you share the earth with. Don't worry, your pets at home won't be jealous.

Seal Season, San Mateo, California
Thousands of Northern elephant seals converge on Año Nuevo State Reserve to battle for mates and calve from December through March. Males bellow and bump chests while females nurse their young on the park's beaches and dunes.

Jubilee, Daphne, Alabama
Every few years, a depletion of oxygen in Mobile Bay causes bottom-dwelling fish and crustaceans to swarm toward its shallow shores. The water churns with crab, shrimp, stingrays, eel and flounder. Jubilee is unpredictable, occurring only during summer pre-dawn hours.

Bat Explosion, Austin, Texas
More than a million bats fly out from under the Congress Avenue bridge in search of insects each dusk from March to November. The nearly all-female group comes here to give birth.

Synchronized Lightning Bugs, Elkmont, Tennessee
Fireflies blink in unison during this natural light show in the Great Smoky Mountains, from 9 to 11 p.m., for about two weeks in mid-June.

Loggerhead Turtle Hatchlings, Jekyll Island, Georgia
These endangered creatures burst forth from nests June to August. Walks led by Georgia Turtle Center make it easy to help little loggerheads to the ocean.