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Elephant seals or sea elephants are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus Mirounga.Both species, the northern elephant seal (M. angustirostris) and the southern elephant seal (M. leonina), were hunted to the brink of extinction for oil by the end of the 19th century, but their numbers have since recovered.
A southern elephant seal's eyes are large, round, and black. The width of the eyes, and a high concentration of low-light pigments, suggest sight plays an important role in the capture of prey. Like all seals, elephant seals have hind limbs whose ends form the tail and tail fin. Each of the "feet" can deploy five long, webbed fingers.
A female northern elephant seal was documented in 2013 by a deep sea camera at a depth of 894 m (2,933 ft), where she consumed a Pacific hagfish, slurping it up from the ocean floor. The event was reported by a Ukrainian boy named Kirill Dudko, who further reported the find to scientists in Canada . [ 28 ]
Elephant seals can reach over 13 feet in length and can weigh 4,400 pounds, or 2.2 tons, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They typically live about 19 years.
Pinnipeds range in size from the 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) and 50 kg (110 lb) Baikal seal to the 6 m (20 ft) and 3,700 kg (8,200 lb) male southern elephant seal, which is also the largest member of Carnivora. [1]
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Tracking data showed Monarch traveled well beyond what anyone thought a pup could do during its first migration.
Piedreas Blancas is an important elephant seal rookery. Friends of the Elephant Seal is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about elephant seals and other marine life. California's marine protected areas encourage recreational and educational uses of the ocean. [ 7 ]