Elephant seal
Elephant seals are large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus Mirounga. The two species, the northern elephant seal (M. angustirostris) and the southern elephant seal (M. leonina), were both hunted to the brink of extinction by the end of the 19th century, but the numbers have since recovered,More info:wiki
Below are photos and Images you may like:
#10 Northern elephant seal,More info:wikipedia
#9 Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas,More info:tripsavvy
#8 Southern Elephant Seal,More info:oceanwide-expeditions
#7 The Verge Review of Animals: the elephant seal,More info:theverge
This column is part of a series where Verge staffers post highly subjective reviews of animals. Up until now, we’ve written about animals without telling you whether they suck or rule. We are now rectifying this oversight.
In David Foster Wallace’s first novel, The Broom of the System, one Norman Bombardini is planning to eat the entire universe, to eat himself into infinity so nothing exists that isn’t self. I find it difficult to look at an elephant seal — particularly a large bull — and not see something Bombardini-like. The males can weigh as much as 4,000 pounds (2,500 kg); the females, smaller, are only 1,500 pounds (600 kg).
Elephant seals aren’t named for their size. Rather, the males develop noses that kind of look like elephants’ trunks. They inflate their noses in order to scare other males away — to mate, they have to fight for dominance. The fights are pretty violent, with the males essentially beating each other with their heads when they aren’t biting.
#6 File:Elephant seal colony edit.jpg,More info:wikipedia
#5 Elephant Seal Facts (Genus Mirounga),More info:thoughtco
The elephant seal (genus Mirounga) is the world’s largest seal. There are two species of elephant seals, named according to the hemisphere in which they are found. Northern elephant seals (M. angustirostris) are found in coastal waters around Canada and Mexico, while southern elephant seals (M. leonina) are found off the coast of New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina.
#4 Elephant Seal,More info:elelur
Slightly larger than their southern counterparts, these elephant seals range from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California. Each year a northern elephant seal will swim about 21,000 km (13,000 miles). They migrate north in summer to feed in waters exposed by melting ice. The sexes follow different routes: males move to the far north, beyond the Aleutians, while females head further west into the northern Pacific. The seals come on to land to breed in winter, and again in August to moult their summer coat. They prefer sandy and rocky shores.
The largest seal in the northern hemisphere, the male elephant seal may weigh a massive 6,000 lb (2,700 kg), much of it accounted for by the thick layer of blubber. Females rarely weigh more than 2,000 lb (900 kg). Because of its size, this species was a major target for commercial sealers, and by the end of the nineteenth century the population was dangerously low. Only one of the breeding islands appeared to be used, and that by only a hundred or so seals. With strict protection, numbers have increased since then, and between 1957 and 1976, the population tripled to over 47,000 – a remarkable recovery.
#3 Elephant seals hate fights as much as you do—rhythm is their best defense,More info:popsci
It’s been a while, but you could never forget that voice. It’s your high-school nemesis—the person you competed with when hormones were at their peak. You can’t see them in the crowded room, but just the pitch of their voice and the cadence of their speech is enough to make you want to turn and flee, sight unseen, just trying to avoid a repeat of the not-so-good-times. Elephant seals feel your pain.
#2 Subtle changes in how long northern elephant seals dive show when they’re pregnant,More info:hakaimagazine
Forget pee sticks, researchers have developed a way to remotely detect whether a northern elephant seal is pregnant using nothing more than basic tracking data. In a recent study, Luis Hückstädt, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his colleagues showed that pregnant elephant seals dive for shorter durations than those that aren’t carrying a baby. It’s kind of like using data from a Fitbit to show that a woman is pregnant just because she’s running a bit slower than usual. This pregnancy test by proxy opens a window into a major life stage of the elephant seal that has been largely invisible until now.
The effect of pregnancy on wild animals is understudied, and northern elephant seals make it even trickier thanks to their habitat. Other than a brief stint on land during mating season, the animals spend most of the year out at sea, Hückstädt says. “It’s pretty much impossible for us to even detect pregnancy.” But there’s another good reason why studying pregnancy in northern elephant seals is particularly important—it’s their typical state; most of the time, most adult females are pregnant.
#1 Elephant seal making a splash in Whakatāne,More info:stuff
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