Elephant Seal

Quick Take

• Two elephant seals can live wildly different lifespans, and their birthplace turns out to be the surprising reason why. Lifespan differences explained →
• A male elephant seal weighs as much as a rhinoceros, and yet what he eats will really catch you off guard. See what they eat →
• Elephant seals are built for brutal ocean life, yet they're left completely helpless by one specific situation on land. Their land vulnerabilities →
• These seals were pushed to the edge of extinction, and the story of how they bounced back is not what you would expect about conservation. Their comeback story →

The trunk-like nose of this seal makes it easy to see how it got its name. The average lifespan of a northern elephant seal is nine years, while an elephant seal living in the Antarctic region can live from 20 to 22 years. Male seals can weigh up to 4 metric tons (8,800 pounds). They are carnivores living on a diet of squid, fish, rays, penguins, and some small species of sharks.

5 Elephant Seal Facts

• These seals spend approximately nine months of the year in the water.
• They are excellent swimmers but move awkwardly while on land.
• Male elephant seals are called bulls.
• These seals were hunted in the 19th century until they were almost extinct.
• An elephant seal reaches sexual maturity at around two to six years of age for females, and as late as ten years for males.

Evolution

Information about the evolution of elephant seals is limited; however, they are pinnipeds, or marine animals with flippers. Pinnipeds are believed to have evolved from land animals closely related to bears and canids, with some lineages tracing back to an otter-like ancestor called Puijila darwini. (The skulls of elephant seals are very similar to the skulls of bears.) According to fossil records, pinnipeds appeared in the oceans around 25 million years ago — roughly the same time as the appearance of whales. The early pinnipeds dwelled in shallow waters and had well-developed flippers and teeth that indicate that they chewed their food like land animals. Elephant seals have since evolved to swallow food whole.

Scientific Name and Species

The elephant seal belongs to the family Phocidae and the class Mammalia. They are classified in the genus Mirounga. Mirounga, or ‘miouroung,’ is an Australian Aboriginal word meaning seal.

There are two species of elephant seal:

• Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris): can be found in the North Pacific near Baja California, Mexico, the Aleutian Islands, and the Gulf of Alaska.
• Southern Elephant Seals (Mirounga leonina): can be found in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters.

Appearance and Behavior

These seals are covered in a layer of light or dark tan or grayish fur. While male seals have a large trunk-like nose, also called a proboscis, female seals have a nose that’s normal in size. These seals have large, round faces, dark eyes, and whiskers.

Their two short front flippers have nails on the ends that look like long, dark fingernails. Their back flippers are webbed, making them one of the most expert swimmers in the ocean.

Male seals are much larger than females. A male northern elephant seal can weigh as much as 4,400 pounds and grow to over 13 feet in length. A female weighs around 1,300 pounds and grows to be about 10 feet long. By comparison, a male southern elephant seal weighs around 4,900 to 8,800 pounds and grows to be about 14 to 19 feet in length. A female seal of this species typically weighs between 880 and 1,980 pounds and grows to be about 8.5 to 9.8 feet long.

For reference, a male seal weighing 4,400 pounds weighs about the same as a rhinoceros, while a female that weighs 2,000 pounds is equal in weight to two grand pianos. It’s no wonder why most animals steer clear of these seals.

Looking at the length of these seals, a ten-foot elephant seal is equal in size to half of an adult giraffe. A 16-foot-long seal is equal in length to two full-sized Christmas trees. A giant male elephant seal holds the record as the longest, with reported measurements ranging from around 21 to 22.5 feet.

The short front flippers and hind flippers of this seal all have a specific purpose. Its front flippers help these seals to change direction when swimming, while their webbed hind flippers move them forward through the ocean. When on land, these seals use their front flippers to rock themselves forward while dragging their hind flippers. It’s not hard to see why this seal prefers to be in the water.

Elephant seals are both solitary and social. When they are swimming in the ocean, they are solitary. But when they return to the land and join the rookery during breeding season, they become social. A group of seals has many names, including a herd, a pod, a colony, or a harem (females only).

Elephant seals are extremely territorial and can be very aggressive when defending their area of shore. A male seal gathers 40 to 50 female seals, or a harem, to stay within his territory. If one male tries to invade another’s territory, it can result in a bloody, violent fight as the territory is defended. It’s also very noisy. Male seals make deep, echoing sounds similar to drum beats as they fight with another male.

Habitat

Northern elephant seals live in the North Pacific near Baja California, Mexico, to the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska. Southern elephant seals live in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters.

These seals migrate to the ocean, spending several months hunting for food. Marine biologists have found that male seals follow a similar path when migrating, while female seals choose different routes through the ocean. In mid-December, these seals return to land to breed, heading back out to the ocean at the end of March.

The thick layers of fat on these seals keep them warm as they swim through the frigid waters of the ocean. Plus, they have specially developed lungs that deflate as they dive deeply into the ocean for food and refill with air when they resurface.

Diet

During their nine months or so spent in the ocean, they are rarely seen at the surface of the water. They are either swimming just beneath the surface or diving into the depths in search of food. These seals add a lot of fat to their bodies during these months. Once the mating season begins, they enter a fasting period and stop eating.

Predators and Threats

Great white sharks and killer whales are two predators of these seals. Elephant seals are so large that they have very few predators in the ocean.

However, the fishing activities of humans can be a threat to these seals. They sometimes become tangled in large commercial fishing nets, leading to serious injury or death. Also, these seals are sometimes hit by large ships and other ocean vessels, which can result in their death.

Environmental events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, can reduce the population of elephant seals. Seal pups that are not yet strong swimmers can be swept up and killed in these weather events.

At one time, these seals were hunted by poachers for the oil in their blubber; they now have legal protection against poaching. The conservation status of Northern elephant seals, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is Least Concern, while southern elephant seals are shown as Vulnerable.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

Mating season begins in December for elephant seals. They come out of the ocean and settle onshore. The male elephant seals, also called bulls, arrive at the rookery before the females. Male seals fight with one another for territory and dominance. A male seal raises the top half of its body, sometimes reaching six feet in height. Two male seals hit each other with their elephant-like noses, bite, and push each other until one gives up or is so injured it can’t continue. This is a noisy, dangerous encounter.

Once the dominant male seals establish their territory, the female seals arrive from the ocean. A male seal has 40 to 50 females in his territory. A group of females is called a harem. The male mates with most of the females in the harem.

The gestation period of a female elephant seal is 11 months. Once a female seal becomes pregnant, she returns to the ocean. She will later return to shore and give birth to one pup. A newborn seal pup weighs around 75 pounds and is covered in black fur. The pup is able to see, hear, and move right from birth.

A mother seal nurses her pup for one month, then it begins to eat solid food. The mother leaves her pup after just one month, breeds with a male, and then leaves the rookery to return to the ocean. A month-old elephant seal pup must learn and practice its swimming and hunting skills on its own.

The average lifespan of a northern elephant seal is nine years, while the lifespan of a southern elephant seal ranges from 20 to 22 years. Female seals usually live longer than male seals because male seals must fight for territory and sometimes receive life-shortening injuries. These seals are also vulnerable to a variety of skin diseases.

Population

The population of northern elephant seals is believed to be around 127,000. About 26,000 live near the Mexican coast, while the remainder live off the coast of California. There are approximately 650,000 southern elephant seals in existence.

The population of these seals is either stable or increasing. This is encouraging, given that they nearly became extinct in the 19th century due to poaching.