Southern elephant seal
Mirounga leonina
CommonPhoto: franek2 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mammalcarnivore
The southern elephant seal is a colossal marine mammal that roams the cold waters of the Southern Ocean. Adult males are easily recognized by their enormous size and trunk-like noses, which they use to bellow impressively loud calls during mating season. These seals are the heavyweight champions of the pinniped family, even outweighing walruses.
- Males use their large noses to create thunderous roars for communication.
- A bull southern elephant seal is nearly twice as heavy as a male walrus.
- This species holds the title for largest non-whale marine mammal alive today.
OceanPolarAntarctica
Read more on WikipediaAt a glance
- Classification
- Mammal
- Scientific name
- Mirounga leonina
- Habitat
- Ocean, Polar
- Regions in this directory
- Antarctica
- Diet
- carnivore
- Relative size
- giant
- IUCN Red List
- Least Concern (LC)