A pregnant and adventurous 900-pound elephant seal that blocked traffic on Highway 37 in Sonoma was released this week, safe and sound, in the Point Reyes National Seashore, where she gave birth. On Dec. 28, in response to numerous calls from drivers, staff from the Marine Mammal Center arrived to coax the seal into nearby Tolay Creek. They hoped the pinniped, which they named Tolay, would continue to the bay and the ocean. Between December and March, northern elephant seals mate and breed on a number of West Coast beaches; Tolay kept returning to the highway, possibly in search of a spot to haul out to give birth. Two days later, staff from the center sedated the seal with a tranquilizer, took blood samples and conducted an ultrasound. Twelve people then pulled her into a truck and transported her to the seashore, where she was released near the elephant seal rookery at Chimney Rock. The next day, the seashore’s biological science technician Sarah Codde saw the seal at Drakes Beach, a major breeding area. On Monday, a week after her perilous highway jaunt, Tolay gave birth. Tolay is somewhat easy to spot at the moment, said Jim Rolka, a winter wildlife docent who took pictures of her a couple of hours after the birth. Only eight mother seals and pups were hauled out on Drakes Beach on Saturday, and she has an orange tag on her tail from the mammal center, whereas the seashore uses pink tags to track seals. He said Tolay and her pup were asleep when he arrived, but they awoke about an hour later. “The pup [was] barking and got its head up high. And we’re talking two hours after it was born; that’s pretty amazing,” Mr. Rolka said. For about 28 days following birth, the pup will suckle on its mother—who will not eat, drink or swim during the roughly month-long feeding frenzy—until it grows to about 250 pounds. Then Tolay will leave her fattened pup to fend for itself.