elephant seal

elephant seal

The elephant seal (Mirounga sp.) Is a mammal carnivore pinniped, focídeo, perfectly adapted to aquatic life. There are two recognized subspecies:

M. angustirostris, Arctic species, the Pacific inhabits the coasts of California, Mexico and Guadeloupe.
The elephant seals are large mammals: the female reaches 3.50 meters and the male up to 6.5 meters, weighing up to 6 tons. The head is large, with large, protruding eyes and brow ridges with stiff hairs. In males, the nose elongates into a kind of proboscis, which gave rise to the popular name of the species. The forelimbs, though robust, do not provide good income on land; later, very strong, with five fingers and split in half, forming a kind of each paddle.

Elephant seals spend about 80% of their lives swimming in the oceans, may be up to 80 minutes without breathing and dive up to 1700 meters deep.

The breeding season lasts only about a month in the summer hemisphere where they live. In this period the females are concentrated in localized colonies and numerous beaches and separated by harems controlled by a dominant male. The female gives birth to a calf, breastfeeding only during this period never get away to feed. At this time, already fertilized again, the female returns to the sea leaving the harem and offspring. Each dominant male has to fight invasions of neighbors and usurpation attempts, while trying to cover the greatest possible number of females in their territory. The stress of the breeding season is so great for males that many of them die of exhaustion at the end of the season. The average life span of females to reach sexual maturity at 3-4 years is about 20 years. Males only acquire the status of dominant male around 8 and rarely live beyond 10-11 years.

The elephant seals were hunted in abundance for their skin, fat and oils and were on the verge of extinction in the nineteenth century. Currently they are out of danger, their hunting is prohibited and their only predator is the killer whale.