The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its name from its massive size and the large proboscis of the adult male, which is used to produce very loud roars, especially during the breeding season. A bull southern elephant seal is about more than twice the weight of a male northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) as large sub-adult southern elephant seals have weighed 3 tons, as well as more than twice the weight of a male Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens).
Taxonomy The southern elephant seal was one of the many species originally described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Phoca leonina. John Edward Gray established the genus Mirounga in 1827.
In the nineteenth century, the species was often called "bottle-nosed seal".e.g. Cuvier 1827-1835. The animal kingdom etc. London : Whittaker. p. 58 online in Darwin's Beagle Library.
Description
The southern elephant seal is distinguished from the northern elephant seal (which does not overlap in range with this species) by its greater body mass and a shorter proboscis. The southern males also appear taller when fighting, due to their tendency to bend their backs more strongly than the northern species. This species may also exhibit the greatest sexual dimorphism of any mammal in terms of mass ratio, with males typically four to five times heavier than females. On average female southern elephant seals weigh and measure long, whereas adult bulls can range from and grow to in length if including rear flippers. For comparison, among the northern elephant seal and the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)—two other large marine mammals that are highly sexual dimorphic by size—males typically outweigh females by a factor of three to four.
Southern elephant seal size also varies regionally. Studies have indicated elephant seals from South Georgia are around 30% heavier and 10% longer on average than those from Macquarie Island. The record-sized bull, shot in Possession Bay, South Georgia, on 28 February 1913, measured long when flensed however no documented length with blubber, and no current reliable estimations of body mass in the massive male, the biggest directly documented weight of a male elephant seal was 4357 pounds and 13 ft and 4 inches long. The maximum size of a female is and .
A southern elephant seal's eyes are large, round, and black. The width of the eyes, and a high concentration of low-light pigments, suggest sight plays an important role in the capture of prey. Like all seals, elephant seals have hind limbs whose ends form the tail and tail fin. Each of the "feet" can deploy five long, webbed fingers. This agile dual palm is used to propel water. The pectoral fins are used little while swimming. While their hind limbs are unfit for locomotion on land, elephant seals use their fins as support to propel their bodies. They are able to propel themselves quickly (as fast as ) in this way for short-distance travel, to return to water, to catch up with a female, or to chase an intruder.
Pups are born with fur and are completely black. Their coats are unsuited to water but protect infants by insulating them from the cold air. The first molting accompanies weaning. After molting, the coats may turn grey and brown, depending on the thickness and moisture of hair. Among older males, the skin takes the form of a thick leather which is often scarred.
Like other seals, the vascular system of elephant seals is adapted to the cold; a mixture of small veins surround arteries, capturing heat from them. This structure is present in extremities such as the hind legs.
Range and population
Southern elephant seal world population was estimated at 650,000 in the mid-1990s, and was estimated in 2005 at between 664,000 and 740,000. As of 2025, the population has been estimated at close to 700,000 globally. Studies have shown the existence of three geographic subpopulations, one in each of the three oceans.
Tracking studies have indicated the routes traveled by elephant seals, demonstrating their main feeding area is at the edge of the Antarctic continent. While elephant seals may come ashore in Antarctica occasionally to rest or to mate, they gather to breed in subantarctic locations. The largest subpopulation is in the South Atlantic, with more than 400,000 individuals, including Gough Island and about 113,000 breeding females on South Georgia. The other breeding colonies of the Atlantic subpopulation are located on the Falkland Islands and Valdes Peninsula in Argentina (the only continental breeding population).
The second subpopulation, in the south Indian Ocean, consists of up to 200,000 individuals, three-quarters of which breed in the Kerguelen Islands and the rest in the Crozet Islands, Marion and Prince Edward Islands, and Heard Island. Some individuals also breed on Amsterdam Island.
The third subpopulation of about 75,000 seals is found in the subantarctic islands of the Pacific Ocean south of Tasmania and New Zealand, mainly Macquarie Island. Colonies once existed in Tasmania, Saint Helena, and the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile. Some individuals at the time of molting have been found in South Africa, Australia or Uruguay. Lost animals have also been reported from time to time on the shores of Mauritius, with two reports from the Río Guayas estuary area in Ecuador and a beach in Lima, Peru. Reality of the creature so called Manatee of Helena had been pointed out as possible misidentification of elephant seals historically present on Saint Helena.Shuker K., 2014, The Beasts That Hide from Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals, pp.138, Cosimo, Inc.
In Chile, the species is currently believed to be in a process of re-colonization of its former range.Cárcamo, D., Pizarro, M., Orellana, M., Muñoz, L., Pavés, G., Sepúlveda, M., Durán, R., y Oliva, D. (2019). Are southern elephant seals re-invading mid-latitude grounds? New sightings and first birth records off the Chilean Coast. Polar Biology, 42, 433-440.Sepúlveda, M., Pavés, G., Harrod, C., y Gómez-Uchida, D. (2019). Sighting of a Southern elephant seal Mirounga leoninain the Toltén River, southern Chile. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía, 53, 375-380. It has for example been sighted in the 2010s at the mouth of Toltén River and at the Caicura Islets.
After the end of large-scale seal hunting in the 19th century, the southern elephant seal recovered to a sizable population in the 1950s; since then, an unexplained decline in the subpopulations of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean has occurred. The population now seems to be stable; the reasons for the fluctuation are unknown. Suggested explanations include a phenomenon of depression following a rapid demographic rebound that depletes vital resources, a change in climate, competition with other species whose numbers also varied, or even an adverse influence of scientific monitoring techniques.
Behavior
Social behavior and reproduction
Elephant seals are among the seals that can stay on land for the longest periods of time, as they can stay dry for several consecutive weeks each year. Males arrive in the colonies earlier than the females and fight for control of harems when they arrive. Large body size confers advantages in fighting, and the agonistic relationships of the bulls gives rise to a dominance hierarchy, with access to harems and activity within harems being determined by rank. The dominant bulls ("harem masters") establish harems of several dozen females. The least successful males have no harems, but they may try to copulate with a harem male's females when the male is not looking. The majority of primiparous females and a significant proportion of multiparous females' mate at sea with roaming males away from harems.
An elephant seal must stay in his territory to defend it, which could mean months without eating, having to live on his blubber storage. Two fighting males use their weight and canine teeth against each other. The outcome is rarely fatal, and the defeated bull will flee; however, bulls can suffer severe tears and cuts. Some males can stay ashore for more than three months without food. Males commonly vocalize with a coughing roar that serves in both individual recognition and size assessment. Conflicts between high-ranking males are more often resolved with posturing and vocalizing than with physical contact.
Generally, pups are born rather quickly in the breeding season. After being born, a newborn will bark or yap and its mother will respond with a high-pitched moan. The newborn begins to suckle immediately. Lactation lasts an average of 23 days. Throughout this period, the female fasts. Newborns weigh about at birth and reach by the time they are weaned. The mother loses significant weight during this time. Young, weaned seals gather in nurseries until they lose their birth coats. They enter the water to practice swimming, generally starting their apprenticeship in estuaries or ponds. In summer, the elephant seals come ashore to molt. This sometimes happens directly after reproduction.
Feeding and diving
Satellite tracking revealed the seals spend very little time on the surface, usually a few minutes for breathing. They dive repeatedly, each time for more than 20 minutes, to hunt their prey—squid and fish—at depths of . They are the deepest diving air-breathing non-cetaceans and have been recorded at a maximum of in depth.
As for the duration, depth and sequence of dives, the southern elephant seal is the best performing seal. In many regards, they exceed even most cetaceans. These capabilities result from nonstandard physiological adaptations, common to marine mammals, but particularly developed in elephant seals. The coping strategy is based on increased oxygen storage and reduced oxygen consumption.
In the ocean, the seals apparently live alone. Most females dive in pelagic zones for foraging, while males dive in both pelagic and benthic zones. Individuals will return annually to the same hunting areas. Due to the inaccessibility of their deep-water foraging areas, no comprehensive information has been obtained about their dietary preferences, although some observation of hunting behavior and prey selection has occurred.2002. Elephant Seal. Columbia Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, sixth Edition. New York: Columbia University Press.
While hunting in the dark depths, elephant seals seem to locate their prey, at least in part, using vision; the bioluminescence of some prey animals can facilitate their capture. Elephant seals do not have a developed system of echolocation in the manner of cetaceans, but their vibrissae (facial whiskers), which are sensitive to vibrations, are assumed to play a role in search of food. When at the subantarctic or Antarctic coasts, the seals forage largely on deep-sea cephalopod species such as Psychroteuthis glacialis, Alluroteuthis antarcticus, Histioteuthis eltaninae, Onykia ingens, Gonatus antarcticus, Martialia hyadesi, Filippovia knipovitchi, and other molluscs, various fish species, including lanternfish (i.e. Electrona spp. and Gymnoscopelus spp.), nothothens (i.e. Genera Lepidonotothen, Pleuragramma, Trematomus, Pagothenia,), Channichthyidsae spp., Bathylagidae spp., krill (mostly Euphausia spp.) and other crustaceans, and even algae.Mirounga leonina (southern elephant seal). (n.d.). Animal Diversity Web. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Mirounga_leonina/
Predation