Southern elephant seal

Mirounga leonina · Phocidae

The southern elephant seal is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its name from its massive size and the large proboscis of the adult male, which is used to produce very loud roars, especially during the breeding season.

Where the Southern elephant seal lives

Recorded in Antarctica, Ashmore and Cartier Is., Fr. S. Antarctic Lands, S. Geo. and the Is., South Africa and Heard I. and McDonald Is. (Antarctica, Oceania, Seven seas (open ocean) and Africa).

Most records fall in Macquarie Island, Eastern Cape and Western Cape.

See the Southern elephant seal’s range on the globe

Conservation status

Vulnerable (VU). At risk: it could become endangered. Categories are the IUCN Red List as republished by GBIF.

Sources

The range is a density of 1,095,781 georeferenced GBIF records, not an expert-drawn map. Description from Wikipedia.