(Vertebrate) Southern Elephant Seal,

Mirounga Leonina
Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Genus: Morounga

I am doing my Vertebrate project on the Elephant Seal, because I had the amazing opportunity of
going down to Fish Hoek Beach and personally viewing “Buffel” (the Elephant Seal) while he was in
the process of moulting.

Buffel on Fish Hoek Beach

The Southern Elephant Seal is the largest seal species in the word. The males can weigh up to 3.7
tons and measure 6 m in length. Males also have the characteristic large inflatable Proboscis
(moveable nose) that makes it look like an elephant trunk and the reason for its name.

The reason for the large Proboscis, is that during reproduction the male seals will fight for territory
either physically of by inflating their large Proboscis and vocalizing into it. The Elephant Seal is a
true Seal and they lack external earflaps.
Habitat in which it lives

Southern Elephant Seals live in the Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters. The Elephant Seal breeds on
land but spend the rest of their time in the ice cold waters of the Antarctic near to the Antarctic pack
ice. Like Buffel, Elephant Seals will also spend up to 3 to 4 weeks on land during their moult.

Buffel was tagged in 2014 at Buffelsbay Cape Point; he also spent time last year at Duiker Island,
Hout Bay. Our closest colony of Southern Elephant Seals is on Marion Island.
How it moves
Elephant Seals are solitary in the ocean but on land they form large breeding colonies. These
animals are clumsy on land and simply move by flopping on their bellies pulling themselves forward
with their strong front flippers, very similar to an inchworm moving forward. They do also lunge
forward when attacking other males to establish their territory for mating.

In the sea, the Elephant Seal is able to hold its breath for 100 minutes. This is longer than any other
aquatic animal. The elephant seal can dive up to 2000 meters, (deepest recorded 2,388m)

The elephant seal is a Pinniped. Pinnipeds are carnivorous marine mammals with fin like limbs. Their
back fins don’t bend forward like the sea lions does. Elephant seals will use their back fins to swim
and to scratch they will use its front fins.

However when threatened they can move at a speed of up 8 kph for a short distances.

Elephant seals are large because they have to hold a large volume of blood which they use when
diving. They have sinuses in there abdomens which hold blood and their muscles can hold oxygen.
They breathe out before diving to remove gasses otherwise they would suffer from decompression.

Buffel didn’t move much on the day I went to see him. He did scratch (as moulting is itchy) with his
front fins and covered himself with sand, which they do to prevent sunburn.
What it eats
Living up to 85 to 90 percent of their time in the deep ocean and also travel miles away from their
breeding colonies they will feed mostly at sea. They hunt squid, crustaceans, fish, ray, ratfish,
mollusc, krill, algae and small sharks.

They do not eat penguins like some of the other seal varieties do.

During breading and moulting times the Elephant Seal will not eat and lives off its fat reserves.

They do not have echolocation so they have to use sight and their whiskers to sense movement.

The Males will return to its same hunting ground; however the females are more random.

Great white sharks, Leopard Seals and Killer whales prey on the Elephant Seal.

During moulting Buffel did not need food or water. He lives off his fat reserves
How it reproduces
The males arrive first on the beach (the same one that they were born on). They then establish their
territories. The males with the biggest nose (proboscis) and a cornified chests are called Alpha
Males.

These males will fight by vocalizing and eventually lunging which might result in bloodshed but no
real damage.

The females (or rookies) collect together around an Alpha male and form a Harem. They only have a
single pup. The female will mate with the male who has successfully defended the harem from
attack. Mating only happens in winter, males arrive in August and the females mid September.

Only 1% of the males will get to mate.

Once the Pup has been born the female will stay with it for a period of 3 to 5 weeks.

Once the adults leave the beach the pups (or as they are called weaners) are left and will lie around
for a few months until they get hungry and head out to sea.
Other interesting info
They can live up to 23 years

There are 650 000 Southern Elephant seals left

They were hunted for their blubber almost to extinction but their numbers have bounced back

They are not scared of humans (and according to the sign at Buffel they view us as big penguins)

I look forward to perhaps seeing Buffel again next summer when he comes ashore to moult.

Bibliography
1. My own photos from viewing Buffel on Fish Hoek beach
2. http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/05nekton/esrepro.htm
3. https://oceanwide-expeditions.com/to-do/wildlife/elephant-seal
4. http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/elephantseals/basics/index.html
5. https://animals.mom.me/fast-can-elephant-seal-move-land-2954.html
6. http://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/seals_sea_lions/southern_elephant_seal.html
7. https://www.countrylife.co.za/wild-earth/buffel-the-elephant-seal-lands-in-fish-hoek
8. Seal Image hand drawn