Sea elephant: a brief description. Elephant seal Where does the elephant seal live?

In our age, when humanity has penetrated outer 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 these giants in natural conditions, 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?

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To begin with, let's say that these are huge pinnipeds mammals belonging to the genus of earless seals (Phocidae), named so 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's) 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 get out to their rookeries located on the deserted rocky shores of Patagonia or on small lost islands 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). The northern species, which differs from the southern one in a narrower and longer 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 the temperate zone, where rookeries of these animals were also found before - 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 ...

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 fishers 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, a kind of “quilted jacket” - a thick layer of subcutaneous fat - serves as a reliable protection from the cold. 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 dream of the sea elephant is truly unbreakable - 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 the 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 recent years has lifted 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, one should not forget about the climatic features of the places where these observations are made: about the continuous prickly winds, icy water, bare, inhospitable rocky landscape ... And yet, the researchers managed to carry out very important work, which made it possible not only to determine the age of individual individuals, but also to trace their migrations, seasonal changes in the 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 at different times. 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” of beauties that appear, you need remarkable strength and a watchful eye ... Seeing an opponent, the owner " harem" emits an evil roar and rushes towards him, crushing everything that comes in his 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 positive qualities to the offspring. 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 Varham, for example, more than once had to get acquainted with their sharp teeth and shamefully 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 normal times. 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 looks at the world around him with huge radiant 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 old experienced males, the herds fall into decline, because the young males begin to fight with each other incessant battles, challenging the primacy. 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 "elephantery" (elephant), and recently it has been 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 north to Vancouver Island and Prince Wales; breeds on San Nicolas, San Miguel, Guadalupe and San Benito Islands).

Until recently, the northern elephant seal was close to being destroyed by overfishing, but recently, 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.

Elephant seals are pinnipeds from the true seal family. In their order, these animals are the largest and exceed the size of the well-known walruses. The closest relative of elephant seals is the hooded seal, with which they have common features. In total, there are 2 types of elephant seals - northern and southern.

Male northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris).

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 the rest of the seals in their overall weight and a large amount of subcutaneous fat. The weight of the fat layer can be 30% of the total weight of the animal.

Penguins next to the southern elephant seal give an idea of ​​the size of this 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.

Male northern elephant seal during mating.

The females do not have a trunk.

The female northern elephant seal.

The skin of elephant seals is thick and rough like that of a walrus, but covered with short thick fur like that of real seals. Mature elephant seals are brown in color, while young ones are silver-gray.

Young southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina).

Geographically, both species are also separated: the southern elephant seals live on the coast of Patagonia and the subantarctic islands, while the northern ones live on the west coast of North America - from Mexico and California to Canada. Both species prefer to settle on pebbly beaches and gently sloping rocky coasts. Elephant seals, unlike other seals, form rather large rookeries, numbering up to a thousand individuals.

Female southern elephant seal on a rookery.

Interestingly, southern elephant seals have two types of rookeries - for breeding and for feeding. Feeding rookeries are several hundred kilometers away from the "maternity hospitals", so elephant seals regularly migrate. These animals feed mainly on cephalopods, less often on fish. In general, elephant seals are quite calm and even apathetic animals. Due to their heavy weight on land, they are clumsy and sluggish.

The breeding season occurs only once a year and begins in August-October (in the Southern Hemisphere it is spring). Sexually mature males and females are the first to arrive at the maternity rookeries, the young come a little later. During the mating season, males are transformed beyond recognition. If at normal times they just sleep on the shore, then during the rut they lose their peace and sleep. Each male occupies a certain area of ​​the beach and does not allow other males to enter it. When the competition grows, the opponents converge in a fierce battle. They roar loudly, puff out their noses and shake them funny in the air to intimidate the enemy. But it looks funny only to an outside observer, because the males themselves in fights bite each other to the point of blood and often inflict severe injuries on the opponent.

Male southern elephant seals in a bloody duel.

And the thing is that every female entering the territory of the male becomes his chosen one and mates with him (unless, of course, she is beaten off by an opponent). So males form around themselves harems of 10-30 females. Pregnancy lasts 11 months, so childbirth and mating occur almost simultaneously. Females give birth to one large cub, the “baby” weighs 20-30 kg! Baby elephant seals are born black. Mothers feed them with milk for a little more than a month, after which the young move to the periphery of the haulout and do not enter the water for several more weeks. All this time, the cubs live off the reserves of subcutaneous fat accumulated during feeding with milk. After some time, the animals molt, after which they leave the breeding grounds.

Sea elephant during molting.

Despite their large size, many elephant seals (especially young ones) die in the mouths of killer whales and sharks. Sometimes males die from wounds and general exhaustion during the rut, moreover, adult males often crush cubs in the cramped haulout. In general, these animals are not very prolific, moreover, their numbers have been greatly undermined by fishing. Previously, hunting for elephant seals was carried out for the sake of rendered fat (up to 400 kg from one male!), Meat and skins. Now the fishery has already been stopped, but the number of northern elephant seals is still low.

Yawning sea elephant.

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 True seals (Phocidae) family.

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 copy among the southern elephant seals, reached a length of 6.85 meters and weighed about 5 tons.

Interesting Facts:

Southern elephant seals can stay underwater for over twenty minutes.
The documented record for being underwater was approximately two hours. The maximum depth to which southern elephant seals can dive is over 1,400 meters.
Elephant seals have a long hanging nose resembling a trunk, which is why they are called so.
An elephant spends most of its life, over 80 percent, in the ocean.

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

The southern elephant seal lives along the coast of Antarctica and the subarctic islands. Before humans landed on Antarctica, elephant seals lived farther north than they do now. The largest population lives on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean. Also, the southern elephant seal is located on the Kerguelen, Heard, Macquarie Islands and the Valdes 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 found on land only during the breeding season and the molting season, which lasts 3 to 5 weeks in spring. The rest of the year is spent at sea.

Dimorphism is observed not only in size. Males have a large vocalization proboscis used to challenge other males. The trunk of the southern elephant seal is slightly smaller than that of their northern relatives, hanging over the mouth by only 10 cm, compared to 30 cm for the northern elephant seal.

Male southern elephant seals reach rookeries a few weeks before females and, through vocalizations, body positions, and fighting, occupy a certain territory. The best and largest territories 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 there are more women in the harem, then the females go to the beta males. A man must stay in his territory, protecting it, so he must go without food for a long time. Lack of food and aggressive encounters with males, energy consumption in the process of mating with a large number of women lead to the physical exhaustion of the male body. Only males in perfect physical condition are able to defend their territory during this long time.

If this does not scare off the applicant, then fights take place.

As a prize, the winner takes the territory.

The shedding process involves shedding all the fur that grows back over the next 3 to 5 weeks. Apart from the time spent on land for breeding and molting, the southern elephant seal lives a solitary life in the waters of the southern oceans. While in the water, elephant seals rarely collide with each other and thus have no need for communication.

While at sea, the southern elephant seal is able to stay underwater for up to two hours, but most dives last no more than 30 minutes. Surprisingly, they spend 2 to 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 blubber. This activity has been discontinued and now the animal is protected and its prey is produced in limited quantities.

Sea elephants ( Mirounga) is the largest genus in the family of true seals,. There are two types of elephant seals, named according to the hemisphere in which they live. northern elephant seals ( Mirounga angustirostris) are found in coastal waters around Canada and Mexico, and southern elephant seals ( mirounga leonina) are common off the coast of New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

Description

The oldest confirmed fossils of these animals date back to and they were discovered in New Zealand.

Only an adult male has a large trunk, similar to. The male uses it to roar during the mating season.

Southern elephant seals are slightly larger than northern ones. pronounced, males of both species are much larger than females. The average weight of an adult male of the southern species can be 3000 kg, and the body length can reach 5 m. An adult female weighs about 900 kg, and her body length is approximately 3 m.

The color of the animal depends on sex, age and season. It can be rusty, light or dark brown, or gray in color.

The elephant seal has a large body, short toed front flippers, and webbed rear flippers. Under the skin is a thick layer of fat that protects the animal in cold weather. Every year, elephant seals molt.

Average life expectancy is 20 to 22 years.

reproduction

Elephant seals are solitary animals. They return to established breeding colonies every winter. Females become sexually mature at the age of 3 to 6 years, and males - at 5-6 years.

However, males must reach alpha status to mate, which usually occurs between 9 and 12 years of age. Males fight each other using body mass and teeth. While deaths are rare, injuries are common. An alpha male's harem is between 30 and 100 females. Other males are found along the edges of the colony, sometimes mating with the females before the alpha males chase after them. Males stay on land during the winter to defend territory.

About 79% of adult females mate, but only more than half of them produce offspring. The gestation period lasts about 11 months, at the end of which one cub appears. The milk of a female contains an extremely high percentage of fat content, over 50% (compared to 4% fat content in female milk). Females do not eat for one month to feed the young. The next mating takes place during the last days of feeding.

Nutrition and behavior

Elephant seals are mammals. Their diet includes squid, octopus, eels, fish, krill, and sometimes. Males hunt at the bottom, while females hunt in the open ocean. Elephant seals use the sight and vibration of their whiskers to find food. They can attack sharks, killer whales and humans.

These animals spend about 20% of their lives on land and about 80% in the ocean. Although they are, elephant seals are capable of outpacing humans on land. In the sea, they develop a speed of 5-10 km / h.

Elephant seals can dive to great depths. Males spend more time underwater than females. An adult male is able to stay under water for about two hours and dive to a depth of about 2 km.

conservation status

Elephant seals were hunted for their meat, fur and fat. Poaching has brought the species to the brink of extinction. By 1892, most people believed that northern elephant seals were extinct. But in 1910, a single breeding colony was discovered near the island of Guadalupe off the coast of the Mexican state of Baja California. At the end of the 19th century, new marine conservation legislation was introduced to protect these animals. Today, elephant seals are no longer endangered, although they are at risk of becoming entangled in litter and fishing nets, and may be injured in collisions with watercraft. The IUCN lists them as Animals of Least Concern.

• Scientists have determined that at warm water temperatures, more males are born than females.
• The screech of orcs in the mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was the sound of baby elephant seals.
• In 2000, a male elephant seal named Homer terrorized the New Zealand city of Gisborne. Homer attacked cars, boat trailers, trash cans, trees, and even a transformer.

Including the largest representatives of the order of 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 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 the rest of the seals in their overall weight and a large amount of subcutaneous fat. The weight of the fat layer can be 30% of the total weight of the 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, the activity of their internal organs slows down, which saves the necessary amount of oxygen. White sharks are also their natural enemies, waiting for nosed seals in the upper layers of the water.

Elephant seals come ashore only in the warm season 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 islands along the western coast of 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 the 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.