Species: Mirounga angustirostris
Northern Elephant Seal
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Mature males have a large inflatable proboscis and grow to 4+ meters in length and 2,000 kg. Females are smaller (to 3 meters and 600 kg). Newborn pups are about 4 feet (1.25 meters) long and have thick black pelage.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Carnivora
Family
Phocidae
Genus
Mirounga
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
éléphant de mer
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Carnivores
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Carnivora - Phocidae - Mirounga
Ecology and Life History
Mature males have a large inflatable proboscis and grow to 4+ meters in length and 2,000 kg. Females are smaller (to 3 meters and 600 kg). Newborn pups are about 4 feet (1.25 meters) long and have thick black pelage.
Habitat Type Description
Marine
Migration
false - true - true - Elephant seals make protracted migrations between breeding/molting areas and feeding grounds; over a period of 12 months, they migrate from breeding areas to feeding areas then back to breeding areas (to molt) then back to feeding areas and finally back to breeding areas (to breed); over a year, the distance traveled is about 20,000 km (Stewart and DeLong 1995). From San Miguel Island, adult females move to feeding areas at latitudes of but far away from Oregon and Washington; adult males move north to Alaska when not breeding or molting (Stewart and DeLong 1995). Many weaned pups leave breeding grounds in April, diperse north as far as Vancouver Island, return to central California coast in September. Young from southern California rookeries may move north to central California, return to island of birth to molt in spring of next year.
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Eats cephalopods, Pacific hake and other teleosts, various cartilaginous fishes, and jawless fishes (Condit and Le Boeuf 1984). Preys mostly on mesopelagic squid; also apparently feeds commonly on bottom in deep water; commonly dives to several hundred meters. Males do not feed during breeding season.<br><br>Northern elephant seals are exceptional divers. When foraging on fishes and squid, they sometimes dive deeper than 1,500 meters and can remain submerged for 1-2 hours. After weaning her pup, a female goes to sea and spends 83-90% of her time underwater.
Reproduction Comments
Single pup is born late December-February (rarely March), mainly in February. Pups are weaned in 4 weeks. Mating occurs a few days before the pups are weaned, then females go to sea to feed. Most adults vacate the breeding areas by the end of February. Young go to sea at 11-16 weeks, after fasting on beach for several weeks. Relatively few males (mainly 9-11 years old, or younger in newly established colonies) inseminate most of the females. Females produce their first pup usually at 3-5 years. Most females breed annually. Reproductive success increases between maternal ages of 3-7 years, then levels off; however, females breeding at a young age may experience lowered reproductive success later in life (Sydeman et al. 1991). Males live up to 15-16 years; oldest known female was 18 years old.
Ecology Comments
Dominance hierarchy forms among males on breeding grounds. Highly gregarious when ashore, during breeding season and when molting. Adult females and juveniles come ashore to molt in spring, males in summer, nonpregnant females and young in fall. Preweaning mortality varies greatly among different colonies, from a few percent to sometimes 76% (see Stewart and Huber 1993 for additional survivorship data).
Length
650
Weight
3500000
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-19
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-19
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=__&US.AK=S4&US.CA=SNR&US.OR=__" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
Northern elephant seals range widely in the North Pacific (regularly north to British Columbia), with males ranging farther north (as far as Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands) than females. Breeding sites are distributed on islands and the mainland from the central Baja California coast north to California, including islas Guadalupe, San Benito, Cedros, Natividad (few), San Martin (few), and Coronado (few) in Mexico; and Santa Barbara, San Nicolas, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, San Clemente (few), Ano Nuevo, and Southeast Farallon islands, and Ano Nuevo Point, Point Reyes, and Piedras Balncas, in the United States; recently, pupping was observed at Shell Island, Oregon (Hodder et al. 1998). Largest breeding colony is on Guadalupe Island off Baja. Has strayed to Midway Island, Hawaii (Tomich 1986) and to a small island near Japan.