Sea elephants. The elephant seal is a giant of the northern and southern seas What does the elephant seal look like

16.06.2019

Your name sea Elephant received thanks to located above oral cavity a process that resembles a trunk. A trunk 30 cm long grows in males closer to eight years of age, in females the process is completely absent.

An interesting fact about the sea elephant is the property of the trunk to increase in size up to 60-80 cm during sexual arousal. Males shake their proboscis in front of competitors in the hope of scaring them.

Description and features of the sea elephant

Pro maritime elephants researchers have collected a large number of information. On the photo of sea elephant resembles: the body of an animal is streamlined, the head is small in size with a trunk on which vibrissae are located (mustache with high sensitivity), the eyeballs are in the shape of a flattened oval and are painted in dark color, the limbs are replaced by flippers, which are equipped with long claws reaching 5 cm.

Elephant seals are poorly adapted to life on land, because their obese body prevents them from moving: one step of a large animal is only about 35 cm. Because of their sluggishness, they bask on the shore and sleep almost all the time.

Pictured is a sea elephant

Their sleep is so strong that they even snore, biologists even managed to measure their temperature and heart rate during their rest. one more interesting fact about elephant seals is the animal's ability to sleep underwater.

This process occurs as follows: 5-10 minutes after falling asleep rib cage expands, as a result of which the density of the body decreases slightly and it slowly floats up.

After the body is on the surface, the nostrils open and the elephant breathes for about 3 minutes, after this time it falls back into the water column. Eyes and nostrils during underwater recreation are in the closed position.

Sea elephant during sleep can dive under water and emerge

For people who first encounter this animal, the question arises: What does a sea elephant look like?? males sea elephants much larger than females. If the body length of the male is on average about 5-6 m, the weight sea elephant - can reach 3 tons, the body length of females is only 2.5 - 3 m, weight - 900 kg. For this species of elephants, a characteristic gray thick fur.

Elephant seals living in have a little big sizes their northern relatives - weight about 4 tons, length - 6 m, and their fur is colored brown. In the water, animals move with enough high speed up to 23 km/h.

Pictured is a northern elephant seal

Elephant seal lifestyle and habitat

sea elephants most spend time in their native element - water. On land, they are selected only for mating and molting. The time of their stay on the surface of the earth does not exceed 3 months.

places, where sea elephants live depends on their type. Exists northern elephant seal living on the coasts of North America, and southern elephant seal whose residence is Antarctica.

Animals lead a solitary life, gather together only to conceive offspring. During their stay on land, elephant seals live on beaches strewn with pebbles or stones. The rookery of animals can number more than 1000 individuals. Elephant seals are calm, even a little phlegmatic animals.

Elephant seal food

Elephant seals feed on cephalopods and. According to some reports, the elephant seal, which is about 5 m long, eats 50 kg. fish.

Due to its large physique, a lot of air is retained in a large volume of blood, which helps sea elephants dive to a depth of about 1400 meters in search of food.

During a deep dive under water, the activity of all important organs slows down in an animal - this process greatly reduces oxygen consumption - animals are able to retain air for up to two hours.

Elephant skin is thick and covered with coarse short hair. The animal has a lot of fat deposits, which are somewhat burned during the mating season, when they do not eat at all.

AT elephant seals antarctica go in the warm season in search of prey. During migration, they are able to overcome the path, the length of which is about 4800 km.

Reproduction and lifespan of the sea elephant

Males reach sexual maturity at 3-4 years of age. But at this age they mate very rarely, because they are not yet strong enough to defend the right to mate with other Scythians. Males acquire sufficient physical strength at least eight years of age.

When the time of the mating season comes (and this time is from August to October for the southern elephant seal, February for gray elephant seal), animals gather in large groups, where one male falls from 10 to 20 females.

There are fierce battles between males for the right to have a harem in the center of the colony: males shake their short trunks, roar loudly and rush at the enemy in order to inflict as many injuries as possible with the help of sharp fangs.

Despite their large physique, in a fight, males can almost completely raise their body, remaining above the ground to stand on only one tail. Weak young males are forced to the edge of the colony, where the conditions for mating females are much worse.

After establishing the owner of the harem, already pregnant females give birth to cubs that were conceived in the previous year. Pregnancy lasts a little less than a year (11 months). The body length of a newborn cub is 1.2 m, weight - 50 kg.

The body of the cub is covered with soft brown fur, which sheds a month after birth. Brown fur changes to dark gray thick fur. After the birth of the offspring, the female brings up and feeds him with milk for a month, and then again mates with the male.

At the end of the month, the young live on the shore for a couple more weeks, while not eating anything, using the previously accumulated fat for consumption. The offspring goes into the water two months after birth.

And whites are the worst enemy for young elephant seals. Because mating sea elephants the process is quite intense (fights, "persuasion" of the female), most of the cubs die due to the fact that they are simply crushed.

The life expectancy of males is about 14 years, females - 18 years. This difference arises from the fact that males receive many serious injuries during competitions, which worsens their overall health. Often the injuries are so severe that the animals cannot recover from them and die.

Including the largest representatives of the detachment predatory mammals. They owe their name to the proboscis-shaped nose of males and large dimensions. Despite the fact that elephant seals are true seals, in their behavior and some other features they are more reminiscent of eared seals. There are two very similar friend another species - the northern elephant seal, which lives on the west coast of North America, and the southern elephant seal, which lives in Antarctica.

Appearance

Sea elephants got their name not by chance, they are animals of really gigantic sizes. The body length of the male southern elephant seal can reach up to 5 m, weight up to 2.5 tons! Females are much smaller and reach a length of “only” 3 m. Elephant seals differ from other seals in their overall weight and large quantity subcutaneous fat. The weight of the fat layer can be 30% of total weight animal.

In addition to their size, elephant seals have another feature that makes them look like real elephants. The males of these animals have a thickened fleshy outgrowth on the nose, similar to a short trunk. During the mating season, the trunk is used for decoration, intimidation and as a resonator that enhances the formidable roar.

Behavioral features

Elephant seals spend most of their lives underwater, feeding on fish and shellfish. They are able to dive to a depth of about 140 meters, holding their breath for more than two hours. At the same time, their activities internal organs slows down, which saves the required amount of oxygen. Them natural enemies white sharks are also present, waiting for nosed seals in the upper layers of the water.

Elephant seals come ashore only when warm time years in order to give birth to offspring and conceive a new one. For three whole months, huge colonies fill the coastal zones.

Young three-four-year-old elephant seals are forced to lead a bachelor lifestyle - they are forced out of the edges of the colony by more mature eight-year-old counterparts. Considering this state of affairs unfair, from time to time they try to break through to "married" females, which leads to new fights.

Species and habitat

Two species of these are known - these are northern and southern elephant seals. The former are found on the islands along west coast North America. They are slightly smaller than their southern relatives. Males weigh 2.7 tons with a body length of almost 5 m. Their trunk reaches 30 cm, which is much larger than that of the "southerners".

Southern elephant seals gather in colonies on subantarctic archipelagos and islands such as Kerguelen, Macquarie, Heard and South Georgia. Individuals are found on the coasts of Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. The weight of the largest males can reach 3.5 tons, and the body length is 6.5 m. The females of both species are half the size of their partners.

reproduction

Animals begin to arrive at the rookeries by the beginning of spring. This is the end of August - the first decade of September (in southern hemisphere Summer comes in December and winter in June. At first, pregnant females appear on the rocky shores. Males pull up later. Fights immediately start between them. Sometimes they turn into whole bloody battles, since elephant seals have quite powerful front fangs.

In the end, everything calms down, and each male finds a harem. It can include 10 females, and a hundred. It all depends on the strength and aggression of the male. Babies are born in September and October. Females crawl away to give birth in secluded places. The cub is born alone. The length of his body reaches a meter, and the mass is 25-30 kg.

The mother feeds the baby with milk for a month. Then she returns to the male and becomes pregnant again. The gestation period is 11 months, that is, almost a year. The kid is left alone. He grows up without the supervision of his mother. When he is 3 months old, he swims with his peers to the open ocean. After molting, at the end of February, adult animals also leave the rookery until the next spring. Sexual maturity in males occurs at 4 years, in females at 2 years. The female gives birth every year for 10-12 years. These animals live on average 20 years.

Another enemy is man. In past centuries, he mercilessly destroyed harmless animals for their fat. From one killed elephant seal, at least 500 kg of a valuable product were obtained. These days, fishing is prohibited. As a result, their number has increased. The number of southern elephant seals today is 750 thousand heads. At least 250 thousand animals live on the island of South Georgia, the same number on the Kerguelen Islands. These are the largest rookeries of huge seals, which they share with penguins.

The belonging of elephant seals to true seals is now indisputable, but their position within this taxon is often the subject of debate. King hypothesized in 1983 that elephant seals are most closely related to the monk seal genus, and that both genera represent the most ancient forms of true seals. In 1996, Binida-Emodnes and Russell could not find evidence for such a close relationship, but confirmed the basic position of elephant seals in the taxonomy of true seals.

Elephant seals are mammals that belong to the class of pinnipeds. They can be compared with seals, they are very similar. The difference is only in size, elephant seals are larger, as well as in a process of skin up to 30 cm long in the nose area, which is considered to be a trunk. That's why elephant seals were called that - because of this trunk.

Where do sea elephants live?

Elephant seals live in the southern hemisphere of the earth, prefer subantarctic climatic zones, but these mammals can also be found in arctic zones. Popular sites for elephant seal colonies are Heard and McDonald Islands, South Georgia, Prince Edward, Crozet, the Kerlegen Archipelago, and some peninsulas and islands of West Antarctica.

What is unique about the elephant seal?

The elephant seal is considered the most large predator in the world. Its diet consists of squid, sometimes fish and krill.
Spend in water up to 300 days a year. The remaining 2-3 weeks, elephant seals find a rookery on the beaches near the coast for mating and breeding.
During their stay in the water, elephant seals cover a distance of up to 13 thousand kilometers, making daily dives into the water up to 700 meters, but there have been cases of diving up to 2000 meters.
The maximum stay under water of a sea elephant is registered - this is 120 minutes.
The blood of elephant seals is saturated with oxygen, which makes it possible for them to make such long swims and dives. Yes, and the blood itself makes up a fifth of the entire body weight of a mammal (this is 2-3 times more than in humans).
The body length of males can vary from 4 to 6 meters, their body weight is 3-5 tons. And the body length of the female is much less - from 2.5 to 3 meters, body weight - up to 1 ton.
Baby elephant seals are called puppies. Puppies are born quite large. Their body length at birth can be 125 cm and weight up to 50 kg.
The number of elephant seals in the world is about 800 thousand individuals, more than half of them live on the island of South Georgia.
The organization of the mating process of these mammals is similar to a harem. The strongest males regularly fight for their right to become the "master of the harem" with other males. Only a third of the males have the opportunity to get to the females.
Elephant seals move on land a little awkwardly because of their heavy weight. When moving, the front flippers are used, but most of the weight is transferred to the back of the animal's body. In water, on the contrary, they feel harmonious and look very graceful.
The average life expectancy of males is 18-20 years, and that of females is 12-14 years.

The process of mating or mating games of sea elephants

Elephant seals during swimming live alone and only 2-3 summer months these mammals spend on land, gathering in large groups for rest and reproduction. The size of such a group can reach 400 thousand individuals. The reproduction of these mammals occurs exclusively on land. Females become ready for reproduction and mating at the age of 2-3 years, males become sexually mature later: at 4-7 years.

When going ashore, everything sexually mature females gather in one pile and form the so-called harem, where only selected males have the right to get. Every male who wants to get into the society of females must defend his right to reproduce. Males emit a long roar and begin their battles among themselves. These battles are sometimes cruel and consist in the fact that one of the males drives another male out of his territory. In this battle, the size, weight and of course the age of the mammal play an important role.

After the victory, the male goes to the females and gets the opportunity to copulate with them. Only a third of all males can be honored with this honor. One male can mate with a large number of females: from 20 to 300 individuals, sometimes even up to a thousand females.

On average, 2-3 months after arriving on land, females have puppies. When puppies are three weeks old, they shed. The black fur that covered their body changes to a gray fur skin.

While feeding the puppies with milk, the female does not leave them even to catch food for herself. Feeding puppies can last up to 4 weeks.

In the 19th century, elephant seals were on the verge of extinction.

Indeed, in the 19th century, elephant seals were openly hunted, they were the object of hunting because of the subcutaneous fat that was extracted from their bodies. Especially a lot of large males were exterminated at that time, because of which the birth rate of puppies also decreased.

The extermination of sea elephants took place in a barbaric way. Animals were stabbed with a spear on the shore, they were not allowed to reach the water, and even burning torches were thrust into their mouths. And all this for the sake of a layer of subcutaneous fat, which in elephant seals can reach a thickness of 15 cm.

But starting in 1964, the ban on hunting elephant seals came into force. Was created international convention for the conservation of Antarctic seals, which protects the rights of elephant seals and other pinnipeds.

November 7th, 2013

In our age, when humanity has penetrated into space and we are eager to find at least some living organisms on Mars or other planets, one involuntarily wonders: are we properly acquainted with our earthly counterparts? How much do we know about them? Do we know their way of life? Needs? Behavior? Relationship with the outside world?

You don't have to look far for examples. How many of us have seen a live elephant seal? Of course, almost everyone knows that such animals exist. But few people were lucky enough to see in natural conditions these giants, exceeding the size and weight of rhinos, hippos and walruses. Elephant seals live in remote places, namely: in Patagonia - off the coast of Argentina, on the Macquarie Islands - south of Tasmania, on Signy Island, in South Georgia.

So what are these sea elephants?

First of all, let's say that these are huge pinnipeds mammals belonging to the genus of earless seals (Phocidae), so named in contrast to eared seals- Otariidae. The length of males is from three to six meters, and such a colossus weighs up to two tons! In body shape, these giants resemble walruses, and their skin is just as thick and hard, but they do not have walrus tusks, but they have something like a short thick trunk (which is what elephant seals owe their name to). Very few of these amazing animals have survived to our time. And if we hadn’t realized at the last moment, they would have completely disappeared from the face of the Earth, like their close relatives - sea cows, discovered by naturalist Georg Steller in 1741, during an expedition to the Bering Sea. Having described these huge harmless herbivores, which were easy to shoot thanks to their sluggishness and gullibility, Steller unwittingly showed the way to easy prey for various enterprising people. By 1770 sea cows(later called Steller) no longer existed.

Fortunately, this did not happen to sea elephants. First of all, because they live in areas that are difficult for humans to access: they either swim in the icy water of the polar seas of the southern hemisphere, where, in addition, sharp storm winds never subside, or briefly go to their rookeries located on desert rocky shores Patagonia or on small islands lost in the ocean. In addition, elephant seals, unlike their harmless relatives - dugongs, or sirens, peacefully nibbling sea grass in underwater "meadows", are by no means defenseless animals. Especially the males. Their teeth are sharp and their strength is enormous. The adult male is very aggressive. Sea elephants are predators: they feed on various aquatic animals, mainly fish.

There are two species of elephant seals: northern (Mirounga angustirostris) and southern (Mirounga leonina). northern view, which differs from the southern one by being narrower and long trunk, lives in California and Mexican waters. Due to predatory fishing in the last century, this species almost completely disappeared. By 1890, only about a hundred northern elephant seals remained, and only the strictest ban on fishing that followed allowed them to increase their number again. In 1960 there were already fifteen thousand of them.

Herds of the southern species were also subjected to ruthless extermination, the former vast range of which is now limited to only a few Antarctic islands, such as Kerguelen, Crozet, Marion, and South Georgia. Several rookeries have survived on Macquarie and Heard Islands. However, in temperate zone, where previously there were also rookeries of these animals - for example, on the southern coast of Chile, on King Island near Tasmania or on the Falkland Islands and the island of Juan Fernandez - now you will not see a single one ...

Today, elephant seals, one might say, have somewhat recovered from past shocks. In some places they even restored their former numbers. But this, of course, only where the animals are under strict protection, for example, on the Argentinean Valdez Peninsula, declared a reserve, or on the Macquarie or Heard Islands, where hunting for them has been prohibited for forty-five years. Animals are clearly thriving there, and their number is growing year by year. As for such islands as South Georgia and Kerguelen, part of the herd is still shot there from time to time. True, it is argued that they do this under strict scientific control.

Why were elephant seals so attractive to hunters? These animals were mined for the sake of one of their subcutaneous fat. Its layer reaches a thickness of fifteen centimeters! It is necessary for the animal to protect it from heat loss in the icy water in which it spends most of its life. And it was this fat that turned out to be so attractive. For its sake, elephant seals were ruthlessly killed, whole mountains of their carcasses rose along the shores, and right there on the shore in huge vats specially installed for this purpose they rendered fat ... On the Patagonian coast of Argentina alone, from 1803 to 1819, North American, English and Dutch fishermen drowned in a total of one million seven hundred and sixty thousand liters of "elephant fat". And this means that the number of animals killed for the sake of this reached no less than four - six thousand! They slaughtered them in the most barbaric way: they cut off the path to the saving water and stabbed them with spears or thrust burning torches into their open mouths ...

And now these huge vats and other equipment for melting fat are still lying along the shores of many islands of Patagonia, rusting in the salty sea wind ... These abandoned vats, as it were, personify the sad memory of the thoughtless and irresponsible exploitation of nature by man in the recent past and serve as a warning to future generations ...

And now, when people have stopped killing elephant seals, it's time to study them. This is done by several groups of scientists from different countries. Very successful observations of the life of these giants were made on the islands of Signy and South Georgia by English biologists under the direction of Dr. R. M. Loves of the British Antarctic Survey; at the same time, Australian scientists, led by Dr. R. Carrick, were working on Macquarie and Heard Islands. The results of their research were published in Canberra in 1964. Somewhat later, the well-known English zoologist John Varham made observations on the same islands.

What did you manage to learn about this rare and little-studied animal?

Despite its colossal size, the elephant seal is a good swimmer. This is facilitated by the spindle shape of his body. The elephant seal is capable of swimming at speeds up to twenty-three kilometers per hour. Moreover, in ice water reliable protection from the cold he is served by a kind of "quilted jacket" - a thick layer of subcutaneous fat. In the water, this overweight animal shows extraordinary maneuverability and dexterity: after all, here it has to get its own food, chasing fish, looking for accumulations of plankton and various crustaceans. The elephant seal is much worse adapted to living on land, although he has to spend a good quarter of his life there. Here it is difficult to imagine a slower and more clumsy animal! He painfully drags his heavy body over stony soil, moving with the help of only the front flippers. At this time, it resembles a huge snail or caterpillar: one “step” is only thirty-five centimeters for a sea elephant! Its own weight, so imperceptible in water, on land becomes an unbearable burden for the animal. It is not surprising that the sea elephant quickly gets tired of the stress, lies down and immediately falls into a heroic, sound sleep. The sleep of the sea elephant is truly sound - in any case, it is not so easy to wake him up. This is explained by the fact that for a very long time these giants had no enemies on land, and they, like rhinos, had no one to be afraid of and there was no need to sleep sensitively.

The deep sleep of elephant seals repeatedly surprised the English zoologist John Warham, who made his observations on Macquarie Island. Every morning, leaving his tent, he came across elephant seals lying side by side in front of the door and blocking his way. They were completely molting young males with a length of three to four and a half meters. They slept quite serenely, their breathing was deep and noisy, sometimes turning even into a rolling snoring. However, it was not difficult for the researcher to get over them: he walked right on their backs, and until the consciousness of these lumps it dawned that they had been walked on in forged boots (which made them raise their heads in fright), the disturber of the peace was already far away ...

No less amazing is the ability of elephant seals to sleep underwater. But how do animals manage to breathe at this time? After all, they have lungs, not gills! .. Scientists managed to find out the secret of such underwater sleep. After a five- or ten-minute stay under water, the chest of the animal expands, while the nostrils remain tightly closed. From this, the density of the body decreases, and it floats. At the surface of the water, the nostrils open, and for about three minutes the animal inhales air. Then it sinks to the bottom again. The eyes remain closed all this time: the elephant is clearly asleep.

Stones are usually found in the stomach of the elephant seal. Residents of the places where these animals live, believe that the stones serve as ballast during the immersion of elephants under water. There are other explanations as well. For example, stones in the stomach can contribute to the grinding of food - whole swallowed fish and crustaceans.

Elephant seals feed mainly on fish, and not at all on cuttlefish, as was previously thought. Cuttlefish in their "menu" is no more than two percent. But on the other hand, an adult sea elephant eats a lot of fish. According to famous zoologist Hagenbeck, the five-meter sea elephant Goliath, kept in his menagerie, ate an average of fifty kilograms of fish per day! Such reports have led some ichthyologists to argue that the disappearance of elephant seals is a blessing, because they, they say, disputed the catch with fishermen ... However, careful studies have shown the absurdity of such conclusions: the food for elephant seals is mainly small sharks and rays that are not listed commercial fish... On land, during the breeding season, elephant seals are able to fast for weeks: at this time they do not eat anything, but live off their internal fat reserves.

Careful study of these animals in last years opened the veil over many secrets of their life and behavior. In some ways, these clumsy colossi turned out to be a fairly convenient object for the researcher: it cost nothing, for example, to measure their length, calculate the number of individual herds, their composition, age groups, observe the “family” life of these animals, the birth of young animals, etc. d. But try to weigh such a whopper! After all, after all, a male who has risen “on its hind legs” (and this is their usual pose of a threat) becomes as tall as a good column, and even the sight of just one photograph of such a giant inspires awe. Where is the thought of grabbing it and throwing it on the scales! .. No, this is not an easy task - the study of such animals, and one must be a real enthusiast to take on this. After all, we must not forget about climatic features places where these observations are made: about continuous prickly winds, icy water, bare, inhospitable rocky landscape ... And yet, the researchers managed to conduct a very important work, which made it possible not only to determine the age of individual individuals, but also to trace their migrations, seasonal changes composition of herds, the process of molting, relationships in the herd.

But let's start in order. For four years, Australian explorers on the Heard and Macquarie Islands have been systematically branding baby elephant seals, much like domestic calves or foals are. By 1961, almost seven thousand baby elephants had been tagged. This subsequently made it possible to accurately determine the age of one or another animal, the order in which different age groups appear on the rookery, the attachment of individual individuals to their “homeland” or the tendency to change places ... So, the female under the number “M-102” four years in a row brought offspring in the same place and only in the fifth year moved half a kilometer further. Other patterns emerged as well. For example, "adolescent" groups of elephant seals appear on the rookery much later than adults participating in breeding, which usually falls from August to mid-November. Molting in animals of different age groups also occurs in different time. Thus, the rookery is almost never empty - only the contingent of its inhabitants changes.

Among the males, four groups can be clearly distinguished. The first - "teenage" - includes animals aged from one to six years, their size does not exceed three meters. They appear on the rookery in winter, especially after storms, with the clear purpose of taking a break from swimming. These animals are the earliest to molt - in December (the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere), and then all other animals appear in order of seniority: the older, the later.

The second, or “youthful”, group is formed by animals aged from six to thirteen years, their sizes are from three to four and a half meters. They come to the beach in the fall, shortly after the females have cubs, but they do not fight with older males and, even before the start of the rut (after weaning the cubs), they swim into the sea.

The next age group is the so-called applicants. Such males, ranging in size from four and a half to six meters, with a proudly swollen trunk, are in a constantly aggressive mood and climb to fight with the owners of the rookery - the owners of "harems" - powerful old males, trying to beat off some of the females from them. These old experienced males make up the fourth age group.

Such a "harem" owner is a very imposing figure. He is huge, imposing, jealous and aggressive. If he were otherwise, he would not have been able to hold on to his “post”. After all, the “harem” usually consists of several dozen females, and in order to keep in obedience all these curious, striving to scatter in different directions and “flirting” with any “applicant” that has appeared, you need remarkable strength and an unsleeping eye ... Seeing an opponent, the owner " harem" emits an evil roar and rushes towards him, crushing everything that comes in its way: knocking over females and trampling cubs ... Such a "master" in general, as a rule, is an extremely "insensitive" animal. It often happens that he crushes newborn cubs to death. A case is described when a male lay down to sleep, crushing a desperately screaming cub under him, but did not even think of getting up to free the unfortunate one.

If the “harem” turns out to be large for one owner, he is forced to allow “assistants” into his territory who guard its remote areas ...

Observations have shown that the same old and strong male dominates the "harem" during the entire breeding season, and younger and weaker males are often forced to give up their place to a rival superior in strength to them. Although the fights of males are usually played out in the water, not far from the coast, panic also begins on the beach at this time - alarmed females scream, cubs try to escape. Therefore, from "harems", where they are disturbed too often, females try to move to calmer "harems".

The fight of males is an impressive sight. Rivals, having swum up to each other, rise “on their hind legs”, towering four meters above the shallow water, and freeze in this position for several minutes, resembling stone statues of monsters. Animals emit a dull roar, their trunks swell menacingly, irrigating the enemy with a cascade of spray. After such a presentation, the weaker enemy usually retreats backwards, continuing to roar menacingly, and, having moved to a safe distance, takes to his heels. The winner, on the other hand, lets out a proud cry and, having made several false throws in pursuit of the fugitive, calms down and returns to the beach.

When none of the opponents is going to give in, the fight flares up in earnest. Then both powerful bodies resoundingly hit each other, with a quick and sharp movement of the head, each tries to sink his fangs into the neck of the enemy. However, the skin of the seal is so hard and slippery, and even provided with a thick cushion of subcutaneous fat, that it rarely comes to serious injuries. True, scars and scars remain on the neck of males for life, but that's all.

No matter how intimidating such a battle may look from the outside, in most cases it does not come to serious bloodshed. Usually everything is limited to mutual intimidation, frightening roar and sniffling. The biological meaning of such behavior is clear: the strongest is revealed, who will take over the functions of the producer during the mating season and, as the successor of the family, will pass on his offspring positive traits. At the same time, the weaker young male does not die on the battlefield and is thus not excluded from the further process of reproduction of the species...

When individual plots and “harems” have already been distributed, there are practically no battles between male neighbors: if someone violates territorial integrity, it is enough for the “owner” to rise and growl so that the border violator immediately leaves.

In relation to humans, tall males do not always show aggressiveness. And not they, but just the females can be the most dangerous for the researcher who dared to penetrate into the very thick of the herd. John Warham, for example, more than once had to get acquainted with their sharp teeth and it’s shameful to run away, leaving a good piece of his trouser leg to the angry sea elephant as a keepsake…

It is worth talking about females in more detail. Females are much smaller than males - rarely they reach three meters in length and a ton of weight. They grow slowly, but physically develop faster than males: by the age of two or three they become sexually mature, while males reach sexual maturity much later.

The breeding season lasts from August to mid-November. Females appear on the rookery already "on demolition" and in five days they bring offspring. Most cubs will be born from late September to mid-October. The owners of "harems" vigilantly protect the females during the period of offspring.

Both females and males arrive at the beach well-fed after a thorough fattening in the sea. This is necessary for a long "fast" that they have to endure on land: males "fast" for up to two weeks, and females even for a whole month! But during this time, the females will have to endure all the hardships associated with childbirth and feeding the cubs, and the males - the stress of the subsequent mating season and the associated fights with rivals.

Having appeared on the beach and preparing for childbirth, the females are located at some distance from each other, and do not lie closely side by side, as in regular time. The birth itself lasts only about twenty minutes, and the cub is born already sighted. Moreover, he is very pretty: covered with wavy black fur and looking at the world huge luminous eyes. But the "baby" weighs about fifty kilograms, and reaches a length of one and a half meters, that is, the size of an adult seal ...

Having been born, the cub emits a short bark, reminiscent of a dog, the mother responds to him in the same way, sniffs him and thus remembers. Subsequently, she will unmistakably distinguish him among many other cubs and will be able to return if he makes an attempt to escape.

The upcoming birth can be immediately determined by the fact that loud-mouthed large brown birds, which in some areas are called skua, are circling over the woman in labor. These birds labor in the role of "midwives" for sea elephants. With extraordinary agility, they remove the birth membranes and the placenta, and on occasion they can cope with a stillborn cub. Skua is not averse to treating himself to milk spilled on the ground by lactating females.

This milk is extremely nutritious (almost half consists of fat), and the cubs grow up with unprecedented speed: they add from five to twelve kilograms a day! In the first eleven days they double their weight, and in two and a half weeks they triple it. True, they add a little in length, but they build up an impressive fat layer - seven and a half centimeters, which they will need first of all: it should protect their body from hypothermia during the upcoming long stay in the water.

After about a month, the cubs, or "kohoro" as they are called in Patagonia, the females stop feeding. By this time, their "baby" black fur has been replaced by silver-gray, they look very plump and contented. Soon they leave the "harem", crawling into the depths of the beach, where they lie down and build up their muscles. At the age of five weeks, the young begin their first timid swimming attempts. On quiet windless evenings, elephant seals clumsily descend into the water of the lagoons heated by the sun or the barrels left after low tide and carefully swim near the shore. Gradually they become more confident and bolder, venture on longer sea excursions, until nine weeks old they finally leave their native rookery and swim away into the distance ...

And again, one has only to wonder how rationally everything is arranged in nature. Young growth becomes independent precisely at the time when the prospects for its survival are most favorable. Just at this time, the surface of the sea is covered with a particularly thick layer of plankton, and young elephant seals are provided with easily accessible and high-calorie food for several months.

However, control over labeled animals has shown something else: half of the cubs die in the first year of their lives. Later, losses are significantly reduced, and about forty percent of the young already reach the age of four.

Based on these data, Australian experts have come to the following important conclusions. If it is necessary to shoot some part of the herd of elephant seals (due to overcrowding of the rookery, lack of food, etc.), then it should be young animals aged from five weeks to one year. But it is absolutely unacceptable to shoot adult males, as was once practiced in South Georgia, where about six thousand of them were killed once in one summer. Without proper guarding of the 'harems' by older, more experienced males, the herds decline because the younger males begin to fight each other incessantly for dominance. This is what incompetent human intervention in the affairs of nature leads to, and therefore rash actions without sufficient scientific justification should be avoided.

But let's go back to the elephant seal rookery, where the young have just left. After the "weaning" of the cubs, the females mate again with the owner of the "harem" and soon after that they go to sea - to take a break from the hardships of childbirth, eat well and build up a new layer of fat until their next appearance on the rookery - in February, during the molting period.

And here we should mention one of the most amazing adaptations of the animal organism to the conditions of existence: the development of the embryo in the womb of the female is temporarily suspended, and the embryo is, as it were, "preserved" for the entire unfavorable period of the animal's life - in this case, during molting. (A similar phenomenon is observed in some other animals - many pinnipeds, as well as in sable, rabbit, kangaroo, etc.) The development of the embryo continues only in March, when the molt in females is already over.

Powerful males, the owners of the beach, come to molt much later - around the beginning of April. The intense life on the rookery requires a longer recovery of strength.

As already mentioned, the younger ones appear first, and later the older ones. During molting, age groups stay together, but by gender: females with females, and males with males. The molt lasts, depending on age, one to two months. Until the end of it, the animals will never start swimming, because at this time the sensitive blood vessels of the skin are greatly expanded and a sharp cooling can cause a violation of the thermoregulation mechanism, which means inevitable death in ice water.

The appearance of a molting elephant seal is the most deplorable: the old skin hangs on it in torn rags. First, she gets off the muzzle, and then from the rest of the body. At the same time, the poor fellows scratch their sides and stomach with flippers, trying to speed up this process, which is clearly unpleasant for them ...

Moulting animals are usually located in some moss-covered swamp, not far from the coast, and, restlessly tossing and turning, stir up loose soil, turning it into a dirty mess. In it, they are immersed to the very nostrils. The stench around is terrifying at this time. So not every tourist is able to withstand it ... By the way, about tourists visiting reserved places. As already mentioned, the Argentine government has declared the small peninsula of Valdes in the north of Patagonia a protected area. On this peninsula, a colony of elephant seals settled, numbering several hundred heads. It is called "elephanterium" (elephant), and with recently is open to visitors. One hundred and sixty-five kilometers from the rookery, the resort town of Puerto Madryn arose. And since the water here is often too cold for swimming, many vacationers willingly take excursions to the "elephantry". They offer paid tour guides. In addition, the tourist route, which runs through a number of South American countries, includes a visit to the Valdes Peninsula with its elephant seal rookery. The ever-increasing flow of tourists, loudly expressing their delight and constantly clicking cameras, certainly unnerves the animals, disrupts their usual way of life, especially at a time when females bring offspring. Males - the owners of "harems" here began to behave much more aggressively than usual. They angrily rush towards annoying visitors, trying to drive them away from "their" territory, or drive their entire "harem" into the water...

There are 2 species in the genus:

southern elephant seal - M. leonina Linnaeus, 1758 (subantarctic waters circumpolar north to 16°S and south to Antarctic pack ice - 78°S; breeds near Punta Norte and Tierra del Fuego in Argentina and on islands of Falkland, South Shetland, South Orkney, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Gough, Marion, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard, Macquarie, Auckland, Campbell);

northern elephant seal - M. angustirostris Gill, 1866 (islands off the coast of Mexico and California to the north to Vancouver and Prince Wales Islands; breeds on San Nicolas, San Miguel, Guadalupe and San Benito Islands).

The northern elephant seal was close to extinction by overfishing, but in recent times thanks to the prohibition of fishing, its numbers have increased significantly and continue to increase.

The total number of southern elephant seals is determined at 600-700 thousand heads, and northern ones - only 10-15 thousand heads.

Southern elephant seals are hunted on coastal haulouts, and there are restrictions on fishing for the seasons, the size of the hunted seals at least 3.5 m long and their number. For example, in 1951, 8,000 elephant seals were allowed to be harvested; mined 7877. Fat and skin are obtained from the mined animals.

Sea elephants are giants from the family of real seals. They are very similar to hooded seals, but are much larger than them. In nature, there are only 2 types of elephant seals: northern and southern.

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

Females are somewhat smaller than their "men". They rarely grow more than 3 meters. The amount of subcutaneous fat distinguishes the elephant seal from the rest of the representatives of true seals. They can accumulate it in astronomical proportions. Fat can be 35% of the total mass.

They also look like elephants because of the fleshy outgrowth on the nose. Of course, this is not a full-fledged elephant's trunk, but in comparison, this detail is not at all of little importance.

This "instrument" is used as a resonator for menacing roars, and as a frightening element during the period mating games.

Females have no such 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. Juveniles are silvery grey.

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 pebbly beaches.

Elephant seals form two types of rookeries. On one they "build" eyes to each other. These rookeries are called feeding rookeries.

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

Elephant seals feed on shellfish. Sometimes they can eat small fish.

These animals are very calm and apathetic. But! If you get the chance to see them with your own eyes, don't test their patience for too long!

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

First, adult males and females arrive on the beach. The young ones arrive a little later. Males begin to divide the beach, occupying their own pieces of territory. They zealously guard their "rifling" of the beach from other males. If necessary, they engage in combat with each other. Males inflate their proboscises, roar menacingly and bite each other to the point of blood and severe injuries. What can I say… Love is evil.

The female becomes someone else just by coming to the territory of this male. Once came, then you need 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 weaker sex. Pregnancy lasts up to 11 months. The most interesting thing is that the mating season just falls on the birth season.

Having fed her offspring with milk for only one month, mommy is in a hurry to conceive again. Babies, by the way, at birth, they weigh up to 30 kilograms, leave the rookery, and wait another couple of months until the molt passes. At this time, they practically do not eat anything, but are alive only because mother's milk is an explosive mixture of proteins and carbohydrates, a crazy calorie content. Sucked out and deposited in subcutaneous fat for a month is enough to maintain strength for another 2 months.

Elephant seals are considered enemies in nature