Southern elephant seal. Their morals

Origin of the species and description

Elephant seal is a deep-sea diver, a long-distance traveler, an animal that fasts for long periods of time. Elephant seals are extraordinary, coming together on land to give birth, mate and moult, but at sea they are solitary. To them appearance enormous demands are made in order to continue one's lineage. Research shows that elephant seals are the children of a dolphin and a platypus or a dolphin and a koala.

Video: Elephant seal

Interesting fact: These massive pinnipeds are not called elephant seals because of their size. They got their name from their inflatable faces that look like an elephant's trunk.

The history of the development of the elephant seal colony began on November 25, 1990, when less than two dozen individuals of these animals were counted in a small bay south of the Piedras Blancas lighthouse. In the spring of 1991, almost 400 seals were bred. In January 1992, the first birth occurred. The colony grew at a phenomenal pace. In 1993, about 50 cubs were born. In 1995, another 600 cubs were born. The population explosion continued. By 1996, the number of cubs born had increased to almost 1,000, and the colony extended all the way to the beaches along the coastal highway. The colony continues to expand today. In 2015, there were 10,000 elephant seals.

Appearance and features

Elephant seals are sociable animals belonging to the family Phocidae. The northern elephant seal is yellowish or gray-brown, while the southern elephant seal is blue-gray. Southern view has an extensive shedding period during which significant areas of hair and skin are lost. Males of both species reach a length of about 6.5 meters (21 ft) and a weight of about 3,530 kg (7,780 lb) and grow much larger than the females, which sometimes reach 3.5 meters and weigh 900 kg.

Elephant seals reach speeds of 23.2 km/h. Most great view of the 33 existing pinnipeds - the southern elephant seal. Males can be over 6 meters in length and weigh up to 4.5 tons. harbor seals have a wide round face with very big eyes. The cubs are born with a black coat that sheds around the time of weaning (28 days), being replaced by a smooth, silver-gray coat. Within a year the coat will turn silver-brown.

Female elephant seals first give birth at around 4 years of age, although the range ranges from 2 to 6 years. Females are considered physically mature at age 6. Males reach sexual maturity at around 4 years of age, when the nose begins to grow. The nose is a secondary sexual characteristic, like a man's beard, and can reach an astonishing length of half a meter. Males reach physical maturity at about 9 years of age. The main breeding age is 9-12 years. Northern elephant seals live on average 9 years, while southern ones live from 20 to 22 years.

Humans shed hair and skin all the time, but elephant seals go through a catastrophic molt, in which the entire layer of epidermis with the hairs attached sticks together at one point in time. The reason for this sudden molting is that at sea they spend most of their time in cold deep water. During immersion, blood moves away from the skin. This helps them conserve energy and not lose body heat. Animals come to land while molting so that blood can circulate through the skin to help grow a new layer of epidermis and hair.

Where does the elephant seal live?

There are two types of elephant seals:

northern;
southern.

Northern elephant seals are found from northern Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. During the breeding season they live on beaches on offshore islands and in several remote places on the mainland. During the rest of the year, with the exception of molting periods, elephant seals live far from shore (up to 8,000 km), usually descending to depths of more than 1,500 meters below the ocean surface.

Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) live in sub-Antarctic and cold Antarctic waters. They are distributed throughout and on most of the sub-Antarctic islands. The population is concentrated on the Antipodes Islands and Campbell Island. In winter they often visit Auckland, Antipodes and Snares Islands, less frequently Chatham Islands and sometimes various mainland areas. Sometimes southern elephant seals visit local coastlines mainland

On the mainland, they can remain in the area for several months, giving people the opportunity to observe animals that normally live in sub-Antarctic waters. The grace and speed of such large marine mammals can be an impressive sight, and young seals can be very playful.

Interesting fact: Unlike most other marine mammals (such as dugongs), elephant seals are not entirely aquatic: they emerge from the water to rest, molt, mate, and give birth to their young.

What does an elephant seal eat?

Elephant seals - . Southern elephant seals are open ocean and spend most of their time at sea. They feed on fish, squid or other cephalopods found in Antarctic waters. They come ashore only to breed and molt. The rest of the year is spent feeding in the sea, where they rest by swimming on the surface and diving in search of large fish and While at sea they are often taken far from their breeding grounds and can travel very long distances between times spent on land.

It is believed that their females and males feed on different prey. The female diet mainly consists of squid, while the male diet is more varied, consisting of small rays and other bottom-dwelling fish. In search of food, males travel along the continental shelf to the Gulf of Alaska. Females tend to head north and west for more open ocean. The elephant seal makes this migration twice a year, also returning to the rookery.

Elephant seals migrate in search of food, remain at sea for months, and often dive deep in search of food. In winter, they return to their rookeries to breed and give birth. Although male and female elephant seals spend time at sea, their migration routes and feeding habits differ: males follow a more consistent route, hunting along the continental shelf and foraging on the ocean floor, while females vary their routes in search of moving prey and They hunt more in the open ocean. Lacking echolocation, elephant seals use their vision and their whiskers to sense nearby movement.

Features of character and lifestyle

Elephant seals come ashore and form colonies for just a few months each year to give birth, breed, and molt. During the rest of the year, the colonies disperse and individuals spend most of their time searching for food, which involves swimming thousands of miles and diving to great depths. While elephant seals are at sea in search of food, they dive to incredible depths.

They usually dive to a depth of about 1500 meters. Average duration The dive time is 20 minutes, but they can dive for an hour or longer. When elephant seals come to the surface, they spend only 2-4 minutes on land before diving back into the water - and continue this diving procedure 24 hours a day.

On land, elephant seals often remain without water for long periods of time. To avoid dehydration, their kidneys may produce concentrated urine, which contains more waste and less actual water in each drop. The rookery is a very noisy place during the breeding season as males vocalize, babies call to feed, and females squabble with each other over prime location and babies. Grunts, snorts, burps, whimpers, creaks, squeals and male roars combine to create a symphony of elephant seal sound.

Social structure and reproduction

Southern elephant seals, like northern elephant seals, breed and molt on land, but winter at sea, possibly near pack ice. Southern elephant seals breed on land but spend the winter in the cold waters of Antarctica around Antarctic ice. Northern view does not migrate during reproduction. When breeding season arrives, male elephant seals define and defend territories and become aggressive towards each other.

They collect a harem of 40 to 50 females, which are much smaller than their huge partners. Males fight each other for mating dominance. Some encounters end in roars and aggressive posturing, but many others turn into brutal and bloody battles.

The breeding season begins at the end of November. Females begin to arrive in mid-December and continue to arrive until mid-February. The first birth occurs around Christmas, but most births usually occur in the last two weeks of January. Females remain on the beach for about five weeks after coming ashore. Surprisingly, males stay on the beach for up to 100 days.

When feeding with milk, females do not eat - both mother and child live off the energy accumulated in sufficient reserves of her fat. Both males and females lose about 1/3 of their weight during the breeding season. Females give birth to one cub each year after an 11-month pregnancy.

Interesting fact: When a female gives birth, the milk she produces has about 12% fat. Two weeks later, this number increases to more than 50%, giving the liquid a pudding-like consistency. In comparison, cow's milk contains only 3.5% fat.

Natural enemies of elephant seals

Great southern elephant seals have few enemies, including:

, which can hunt young and old seals;
leopard seals, which sometimes attack and kill pups;
some large sharks.

Elephant seals can also be considered enemies of members of their population during breeding. Elephant seals form harems in which the dominant, or alpha, male is surrounded by a group of females. On the periphery of the harem, beta males wait in hopes of an opportunity to mate. They help the alpha male hold off less dominant males. Male-male wrestling can be a bloody affair, with males getting to their feet and slamming themselves against each other, slashing with large canine teeth.

Elephant seals use their teeth during combat to rip the necks of their opponents. Large males can be severely injured from fighting with other males during the breeding season. Fights between dominant males and challengers can be long, bloody and extremely brutal, with the loser often suffering serious injuries. However, not all confrontations end in battle. Sometimes all they have to do is rear up on their hind legs, throw back their heads, show off the size of their noses and roar threats to intimidate most opponents. But when battles occur, it rarely comes to death.

Population and species status

Both species of elephant seals were hunted for their blubber and were almost wiped out in the 19th century. However, under legal protection, their numbers are gradually increasing and their survival is no longer threatened. In the 1880s, northern elephant seals were thought to be extinct because both species were hunted by coastal whalers for their blubber, which is second in quality only to that of the sperm whale. A small group of 20 to 100 elephant seals that were bred on Guadalupe Island, off Baja California, survived the devastating results of the seal hunt.

Protected first by Mexico and then by Mexico, they are constantly expanding their population. Protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, they are expanding their range from outlying islands and are now colonizing isolated mainland beaches such as Piedras Blancas, in southern Big Sur, near San Simeon. Overall rating The elephant seal population in 1999 was approximately 150,000.

Interesting fact: Elephant seals are wild animals and should not be approached. They are unpredictable and can cause great harm to humans, especially during the breeding season. Human intervention may force seals to use precious energy necessary for survival. Cubs can be separated from their mothers, often resulting in their death. National Marine Fisheries Service, federal agency, which is responsible for enforcing the Marine Mammal Protection Act, recommends a safe viewing distance of 15 to 30 meters.

Elephant seal– animal. They are large and bulky on land, but excellent in the water: they can dive to depths of 2 kilometers and hold their breath underwater for up to 2 hours. Elephant seals move throughout the ocean and can swim vast distances in search of food. They fight for a place in the sun, but only the bravest achieve their goal.

Elephant seals are real giants; they are the largest carnivores. They belong to real seals and are somewhat similar to hooded seals, although they are significantly larger in size. In nature, there are 2 types of elephant seals: southern and northern.

Since the southern elephant seal is quite impressive in size, most people think that this is why the animal is called an elephant. In fact, their name comes from a fleshy growth on the nose that resembles a trunk, although the size of such a “trunk” does not exceed 10 centimeters. Females do not have such a distinctive feature.

Southern elephant seals

The elephant seal can reach 5 meters in length and weigh up to 2.5 tons. True, females are much smaller - only up to 3 meters, weighing less than a ton. The southern elephant seal differs from other types of seals a large number subcutaneous fat - more than 35%. The growth on the nose is used as an element during mating fights. The animal's skin is rough and thick, covered with thick fur. Young animals are silver-gray in color, adults are brown.

The habitat of this subspecies is the subantarctic islands and the shores of Patagonia. Individuals rarely seen alone, their favorite activity- form huge rookeries on pebble beaches.

Interesting facts:

The southern elephant seal is larger than its northern neighbor - some individuals can reach 4 tons.
They can remain in water for a long time - more than 20 minutes. The documented record for an animal staying under water without a break was 2 hours.
The maximum depth to which animals dive is almost 1.5 kilometers.
They spend most of their lives in the ocean. They come to land during the breeding and molting season, for 3-5 weeks a year.

Females and males differ in the presence of a trunk and weight. At the same time, they have a lot in common: short front fins, a similar body type, a strong rear fin. Scars are often observed around the neck of animals, which they receive in battles during mating.

Features of life

Eating southern elephants crabs, fish and shrimp. Males obtain food for themselves in the waters of the continental shelf, and females go out to the open sea.

Reproduction:

During the breeding and molting season, southern elephant seals most often arrive at the place where they were born. Several weeks before the females leave the water, the males fight for territory. Moreover, each of them must conquer and protect a certain rookery for a long time. He goes without food, which leaves him exhausted by the end of the mating period. Therefore, only the strongest alpha males remain, each of whom mates with dozens of females.
Most females stay at the rookery pregnant, give birth to offspring here, and some time after that they are again ready to mate. As a rule, one cub is born. In rare cases there may be two.
A newborn southern elephant seal is about a meter long and weighs 25-50 kg. The mother stays with the baby for 23 days, after which mating occurs and the baby is weaned. At this time he already weighs about 120 kg.
After this, the female goes into the ocean, and the young individuals unite in groups. For several weeks they live by using subcutaneous fat. In the end, they begin their journey to the ocean hungry. They learn to swim and get their own food on their own.
At 3 years of age, females reach sexual maturity, and by 6 years of age they participate in the annual mating cycle. Males begin to compete for women only at 10 years of age. Pregnancy lasts 11 months, with a life expectancy of about 20 years.

Northern elephant seal

This subspecies lives on the west coast of America, where it is considered a tourist attraction. Local residents value them because they attract tourists in large numbers. Now elephant seals are protected by law. Until recently, they were exterminated so en masse that the species has almost disappeared. It was even considered extinct for some time. However, it turned out that only one colony survived, which lived on the Mexican island of Guadalupe. After the hunting ban, the number of individuals increased sharply. Now the rate of population increase is up to 15% annually. Today the species is no longer under serious threat of extinction.

In their nature Killer whales and sharks are considered enemies. During the rutting season, males die from fatal wounds. At the same time large number young animals die under the carcasses of adult individuals.

The northern elephant seal differs from the southern elephant seal in that sexual dimorphism is less pronounced. However, the trunk of males is larger - it reaches 30 centimeters in length.

The elephant seal is a very interesting animal that refers to seals. The southern subspecies is much larger, since the northern one was exterminated for a long time, which almost led to the complete extinction of the animal. The southern representative of the species is slightly larger than the northern one and is the largest carnivorous mammal.

Class: Mammals

Order: Pinnipeds

Family: True seals

Genus: Elephant seals

Species: Southern elephant seal

The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is an animal of the seal family (Phocidae).

The southern elephant seal is the largest carnivore on our planet. Male southern elephant seals weigh an average of 2.2 tons. up to 4t. and can reach up to 5.8 meters in length. The largest specimen among the southern elephant seals, it reached a length of 6.85 meters and weighed about 5 tons.

Interesting facts:

Southern elephant seals can remain underwater for more than twenty minutes.
The documented record for staying under water was approximately two hours. The maximum depth to which southern elephant seals can dive is more than 1,400 meters.
Elephant seals have a long, pendulous nose that resembles a trunk, which is why they are named that way.
The elephant spends most of its life, more than 80 percent, in the ocean

Http://malpme.ru/samye-krupnye-zhivotnye-na-zemle/

The southern elephant seal lives along the coast of Antarctica and subarctic islands. Before man landed on Antarctica, elephant seals lived further north than they do now. The largest population lives on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean. The southern elephant seal is also found on the Kerguelen, Heard, Macquarie Islands and the Valdez Peninsula in Argentina.

When the southern elephant seal is on land, it is found along the coast on smooth sandy beaches or small rocks. They are on land only during the breeding season and molting season, which lasts 3–5 weeks in the spring. The rest of the year is spent only at sea.

Dimorphism is observed not only in size. Males have a large trunk that increases vocalizations, used to challenge other males. The southern elephant seal's trunk is slightly smaller than those of their northern relatives, overhanging the mouth by only 10 cm, compared to 30 cm for the northern elephant seal.

Male southern elephant seals reach rookeries several weeks before females and, through vocalizations, body postures, and fighting, occupy certain territory. The best and most large areas go to the largest and strongest males. These alpha males become the head of the harem, and with the arrival of women, it can include about 60 females. If in a harem more women, then the females go to the beta males. A man must remain on his territory, protecting it, so he must long time goes without food. Lack of food and aggressive clashes with males, energy consumption during mating with a large number of women lead to physical exhaustion male body. Only males in ideal condition physical condition capable of defending their territory for this long time.

If this does not deter the challenger, then fights take place.

The winner takes the territory as a prize.

The shedding process involves the loss of all fur, which grows over the next 3 to 5 weeks. Apart from spending time on land breeding and molting, the southern elephant seal lives a solitary life in the waters southern oceans. While in the water, elephant seals rarely encounter each other and thus have no need to communicate.

While at sea, the southern elephant seal can stay underwater for two hours, but most dives last no more than 30 minutes. Surprisingly, they spend 2 - 3 minutes between dives on the surface of the water. They dive to depths of 300 – 800 m.

Southern elephant seal and man

In the past, southern elephant seals were hunted for food, skin, and oil. This activity stopped and now the animal is protected and its production is carried out in limited quantities.

Elephant seals are giants from the family of true seals. They are very similar to hooded seals, but are significantly larger in size. In nature, there are only 2 species of elephant seals: northern and southern.

They justify their name 100%. They are so huge that they cannot be compared with anyone other than elephants.
They grow up to 5 meters in length and weigh up to 2.5 tons!

Females are somewhat smaller than their male counterparts. They rarely grow more than 3 meters. What distinguishes the elephant seal from other representatives of true seals is the amount of subcutaneous fat. They can accumulate it in astronomical amounts. Fat may account for 35% of total mass.

They also look like elephants because of the fleshy growth on their nose. Of course, this is not a full-fledged elephant trunk, but in comparison this detail is not unimportant.

This “instrument” is used as a resonator during menacing roars, and as an intimidating element during mating games.

Females do not have such an attribute of masculinity.

The skin of the elephant seal, as befits an elephant, is rough and thick. It is covered with short thick fur. Adults are all brown in color. The young are silver-gray.

Southern elephant seals live on the shores of Patagonia and on the subantarctic islands. The northern ones have chosen the North American shores, spreading from Mexico and California to Canada. Elephant seals are rarely seen alone. They form huge rookeries on pebble beaches.

Elephant seals form two types of rookeries. On one, they make eyes at each other. These rookeries are called feeding grounds.

There are also breeding rookeries. There, females give birth and raise young. This state of affairs is very wise. Elephant seals are very clumsy on land. With their weight they can simply destroy all the young animals. Therefore, maternity hospitals and kindergarten are located several hundred kilometers from the feeding beach.

Elephant seals feed on mollusks. Sometimes they can eat a small fish.

These animals are very calm and apathetic. But! If you get the opportunity to see them in person, don’t test their patience for too long!

Cubs are born once a year. The mating season begins in August-September, when southern hemisphere spring begins.

First, adult males and females arrive on the beach. The young arrive a little later. Males begin to divide the beach, occupying their own pieces of territory. They zealously protect their “cuts” of the beach from other males. If necessary, they engage in battle with each other. The males inflate their proboscis, roar menacingly and bite each other until there is blood and severe injuries. What can I say... Love is evil.

The female becomes someone's by simply coming to the territory of this male. Once she comes, it means she needs to mate. Unless, of course, her opponent takes her away.

Some males manage to form a large harem of females. There can be up to 30 representatives of the fairer sex. Pregnancy lasts up to 11 months. The most interesting thing is that the mating season coincides with the birthing season.

After feeding her offspring with milk for just one month, the mother is in a hurry to conceive again. The babies, by the way, weigh up to 30 kilograms at birth, leave the rookery, and wait a couple more months until the molt passes. At this time, they eat practically nothing, and are alive only because mother’s milk is an explosive mixture of proteins and carbohydrates, with an incredible calorie content. Sucked out and deposited in subcutaneous fat One month is enough to maintain strength for another 2 months.

Elephant seals are considered enemies in nature

There are only a couple of species of elephant seals, named according to the part of the Earth's hemisphere they occupy. These are truly unique animals, the sex of their newborn offspring is determined by the water temperature and general weather conditions.

Description of the elephant seal

The first fossils of elephant seals date back hundreds of years.. The animals got their name because of a small process in the muzzle area, which looks very much like an elephant’s trunk. Although only males “wear” such a distinctive feature. The muzzle of females is smooth with a regular neat nose. On the nose of both of them there are vibrissae - supersensitive antennae.

This is interesting! Each year, elephant seals spend half of the winter season molting. At this time, they crawl ashore, their skin swells with many bubbles and, literally, comes off in layers. It looks unpleasant, and the sensations are no more joyful.

The process is painful and causes discomfort to the animal. Before everything is over and new fur covers its body, a lot of time will pass, the animal will lose weight and take on an emaciated and emaciated appearance. After the end of the molt, elephant seals return to the water again to gain fat and replenish their reserves of strength for the upcoming meeting with the opposite sex.

Appearance

These are the largest representatives of the seal family. They are geographically divided into two types - southern and northern. The inhabitants of the southern regions are slightly larger in size than the inhabitants of the northern ones. Sexual dimorphism in these animals is extremely clearly expressed. Males (both southern and northern) are much larger than females. The average mature male weighs about 3000-6000 kg and reaches a length of five meters. The female barely reaches 900 kilograms and is about 3 meters tall. There are at least 33 species of pinnipeds, and elephant seals are the largest of all.

The color of an animal's fur depends on various factors, including the sex of the animal, species, age and season. Depending on them, the coat may have reddish shades, light or dark brown or gray. Basically, females are slightly darker than males, their fur is close to earthy in color. Males predominantly wear mouse-colored fur. From a distance, flocks of elephants that have come out to bask in the sun resemble plush giants.

The elephant seal has a huge body that looks like an oval shape. The animal's paws are replaced with flippers, convenient for fast movement in the water. At the ends of the front flippers there are webbed fingers with sharp claws, in some cases reaching a length of five centimeters. The elephant seal's legs are too short to move quickly on land. The stride length of an adult multi-ton animal is only 30-35 centimeters, because the hind limbs are completely replaced by a forked tail. The head of the elephant seal is small, relative to the size of the body, smoothly flowing into it. The eyes are dark, flattened oval in shape.

Lifestyle, behavior

On land it's huge marine mammal behaves extremely clumsily. However, as soon as the elephant seal touches the water, it turns into an excellent diver-swimmer, reaching speeds of up to 10-15 kilometers per hour. These are massive animals that lead a predominantly solitary lifestyle in the water. Only once a year do they gather in colonies to breed and molt.

How long does an elephant seal live?

Elephant seals live from 20 to 22 years, while the life expectancy of the northern elephant seal most often reaches only 9 years. Moreover, females live an order of magnitude longer than males. This is all due to the multiple injuries received by the male sex in fights for superiority.

Sexual dimorphism

The pronounced differences between the sexes are one of the most striking characteristics of northern elephant seals. Males are not only much larger and heavier than females, but also have a large, elephantine trunk, which they need for fights and demonstrating their superiority to the enemy. Also artificially obtained distinctive feature The male elephant seal has scars on its neck, chest and shoulders, acquired during endless battles for leadership during breeding seasons.

Only the adult male has a large trunk, reminiscent of an elephant's trunk. It is also suitable for making the traditional mating roar. The expansion of such a proboscis allows the elephant seal to amplify the sound of snorts, grunts and loud drumming bellows that can be heard several kilometers away. It also functions as a moisture-absorbing filter. During mating season Elephant seals do not leave land, so the water saving feature is quite useful.

Females are an order of magnitude darker than males. They are most often brownish in color with lighter areas around the neck. Such spots remain from the endless bites of males during the mating process. The size of males ranges from 4-5 meters, females 2-3 meters. The weight of an adult male is from 2 to 3 tons, females barely reach a ton, weighing 600-900 kilograms on average.

Species of elephant seals

There are two separate species of elephant seals - northern and southern. Southern elephant seals are simply huge. Unlike most other oceanic mammals (such as whales and dugongs), these animals are not entirely aquatic. They spend about 20% of their lives on land and 80% in the ocean. Only once a year they crawl onto the shores to molt and perform the reproductive function.

Range, habitats

Northern elephant seals are found in the waters of Canada and Mexico, while southern ones are located off the coast of New Zealand. South Africa and Argentina. Colonies of these animals crawl out onto the beaches in whole clouds to moult or compete for a mate. This can happen, for example, on any beach from Alaska to Mexico.

Diet of elephant seals

Its menu mainly includes cephalopods depths of the sea. These are squids, octopuses, eels, rays, skates, crustaceans. Also some types of fish, krill, and sometimes even penguins.

Males hunt on the bottom, while females go out into the open ocean to forage for food. To determine the location and size of potential food, elephant seals use vibrissae, identifying prey by the slightest fluctuations in the water.

Elephant seals dive to great depths. An adult elephant seal can spend two hours underwater, diving to depths of up to two kilometers.. What exactly do elephant seals do during these epic dives, the answer is simple - feed. When the bellies of captured elephant seals were dissected, many squid were discovered. Less commonly, the menu includes fish or some types of crustaceans.

After breeding, many northern elephant seals travel north to Alaska to replenish their own fat reserves used up while on land. The diet of these animals requires deep-sea diving skills. They can dive to depths of more than 1,500 meters, remaining underwater until they emerge for about 120 minutes. Although most dives at shallower depths only last about 20 minutes. More than 80% of the year's time is spent feeding at sea in order to provide energy for the breeding and molting seasons, in which feeding retreats are not provided.

A huge reserve of fat is not the only adaptation mechanism that allows the animal to feel great at such a significant depth. Elephant seals have special sinuses located in the abdominal cavity where they can store additional amounts of oxygenated blood. This allows you to dive and hold air for about a couple of hours. They can also store oxygen in the muscles with myoglobin.

Reproduction and offspring

Elephant seals are solitary animals. They gather together only for periods of molting and reproduction, on land. Every winter they return to peculiar breeding colonies. Female elephant seals reach sexual maturity between 3 and 6 years of age, while males reach sexual maturity between 5 and 6 years of age. However, this does not mean that a male who has reached this age will begin to participate in reproduction. He is not yet considered strong enough for this, because he will have to fight for the female. Only by the age of 9-12 years will he gain enough mass and strength to be competitive. Only at this age can a male acquire Alpha status, which gives the right to “own a harem.”

This is interesting! Males fight each other using body weight and teeth. While deaths fights rarely happen - mutual gifts in the form of scars are commonplace. The harem of one Alpha male ranges in number from 30 to 100 females.

Other males are pushed to the outskirts of the colony, sometimes mating with females of slightly less "quality" before being chased away by the Alpha male. The males, despite the distribution of the “ladies” having already taken place, continue to remain on land throughout the entire period, defending the occupied territories in the fight. Unfortunately, during such fights, females are often injured and recently born cubs are killed. Indeed, during the battle, a huge, six-ton animal rises to the height of its own growth and with unimaginable force falls on the enemy, destroying everything that is in its path.

The northern elephant seal's annual breeding cycle begins in December. At this time, huge males crawl out onto deserted beaches. Large number pregnant females will soon follow the males to join together large groups like harems. Each group of females has its own dominant male. Competition for dominance is extremely intense. Males establish dominance through looks, gestures, all kinds of snorts and grunts, increasing their volume with the help of their own trunk. Spectacular fights end with many mutilations and injuries left by the opponent's fangs.

2-5 days after the female remains on land, she gives birth to a baby. After the baby elephant seal is born, the mother feeds him milk for some time. Such food, secreted by the female's body, accounts for about 12% fat. After a couple of weeks, this number increases to more than 50%, acquiring a liquid jelly-like consistency. For comparison, in cow's milk the proportion of fat is only 3.5%. The female feeds her cub in this way for about 27 more days. At the same time, she does not eat anything, but relies only on her own fat reserves. Shortly before the young are separated from their mother and set off on their own voyage, the female mates again with the dominant male and returns to the sea.

Over the next four to six weeks, the babies engage in vigorous swimming and diving before leaving the shore where they were born to spend the next six months at sea. Despite the fat reserves that allow them for a long time to be without food, the mortality rate of babies during this period is extremely high. For about another six months they will walk a fine line, since it is during this time that about 30% of them will die.

Slightly more than half of mating females do not give birth to a baby. The female's pregnancy lasts about 11 months, after which a litter of one baby is born. Therefore, females arrive at the breeding site already “in pregnancy”, after last year’s mating. Then they give birth and get down to business again. Mothers do not eat for the entire month it takes to feed their baby.

Natural enemies

Baby elephant seals are extremely vulnerable. As a result, they are often eaten by other predators, such as or. Also, a large proportion of cubs may die as a result of numerous battles between males for leadership.