Burney J. Le Boeuf, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: Recollections of UCSC, 1966-1994

• Main Authors: Le Boeuf, Burney J, Jarrell, Randall, Reti, Irene H.
• Format: Book
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2014
• Subjects: elephant seals; Año Nuevo State Reserve; UC Santa Cruz history; Elephant Seal; Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/36m6v5t4; https://escholarship.org/content/qt36m6v5t4/qt36m6v5t4.pdf

Burney Le Boeuf was born in southern Louisiana. He attended UC Berkeley, earning his PhD in experimental psychology in 1966. While at Berkeley, he also studied zoology and experimental biology. He arrived at UCSC in 1967 as a member of the psychology board and of Crown College. He already had a strong interest in evolutionary biology and participated in the biology board’s meetings as an outside member. He also began working with biology professor Richard Peterson on seal and sea lion research. After Peterson’s death, the biology board invited Le Boeuf to take Peterson’s place on the board, and he accepted.Le Boeuf is internationally known as a pioneer of the field of marine mammal behavior. He has focused on the social and reproductive behavior of elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), as well as their diving, foraging, and migratory behavior. Le Boeuf has conducted extensive research on the behavioral ecology and physiology of a variety of marine mammals, and also investigated the effects of environmental pollutants such as DDT on marine mammals.Much of Le Boeuf’s research on elephant seals has been conducted at nearby Año Nuevo Reserve, which is only twenty-five miles north of Santa Cruz. Le Boeuf began doing research at Año Nuevo Island in the late 1960s. A team of UCSC undergraduate and graduate students worked with him. In 1975 the first elephant seal pup was born on the mainland on a beach managed by the California Department of Park and Recreation. The presence of elephant seals, the largest males of which weigh up to 4500 pounds, fighting, mating, and giving birth on a public beach within an hour’s drive of the San Francisco Bay area was publicized by Sunset Magazine. The article quickly drew thousands of excited visitors to come see the seals, a few posed their children literally on top of the seals for photos, many approached the seals too closely for safety, and generally put both themselves and the seals in danger. The one part-time ranger assigned to the area was completely overwhelmed.Professor ...