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How long do sea elephants live?

How long do sea elephants live?

The average lifespan of a Northern Elephant Seal is 9 years, while the average lifespan of a Southern Elephant Seal is 21 years. Males reach maturity at five to six years, but generally do not achieve alpha status until the age of eight, with the prime breeding years being between ages 9 and 12.

What is the largest seal in the world?

southern elephant seal
The southern elephant seal is a true seal and is the largest pinniped (seal or sea lion) and carnivoran (hairy carnivore) in the world. Adult males are enormous – at least six times larger than polar bears and nearly twice the size of the next largest seal (the northern elephant seal).

Are elephant seals extinct?

Least Concern (Population increasing)
Northern elephant seal/Conservation status

Do elephant seals mate for life?

Sneaker males hang out along the periphery of the rookery and try to mate when the harem master is asleep or busy. It is believed that only about one percent of all male elephant seals actually get to mate during their life. Males have a very hard life and live a considerably shorter time than the females.

Where do sea elephants live?

Northern elephant seals are found in the eastern and central North Pacific Ocean. Though they range as far north as Alaska, they typically breed and give birth in the Channel Islands off California or Baja California in Mexico, primarily on offshore islands from December to March.

What does a elephant eat?

Diet. Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark. An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food in a single day. These hungry animals do not sleep much, roaming great distances while foraging for the large quantities of food that they require to sustain their massive bodies.

Is a walrus bigger than an elephant seal?

Among the most amazing of pinnipeds are the elephant seals. They are the biggest of pinnipeds – bigger even than walruses – there being a record of a giant male Southern elephant seal that was between 6.5 and 6.8 m long and weighed over 4000 kg (Carwardine 1995).

Do elephant seals eat sharks?

They can eat all kinds of large prey – including tuna, rays, other sharks, dolphins, whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters and birds. Elephant seals get their name because the males – called bulls – have a huge trunk-like proboscis.

Do elephant seal eat penguins?

Elephant Seal Characteristics Large fishes, squid and an occasional penguin fall prey to elephant seals, who have few, if any predators.

What is a sea elephant called?

Elephant seal, also called sea elephant, either of the two largest pinnipeds (aquatic mammals of the suborder Pinnipedia): the northern elephant seal (species Mirounga angustirostris), now found mainly on coastal islands off California and Baja California; or the southern elephant seal (M.

What is an elephants life cycle?

Life cycle Young elephants wean after 6 to 18 months, although they may continue nursing for over 6 years. Male elephants leave their natal group at puberty and tend to form much more fluid alliances with other males. Elephants live up to around 70 years, with females mostly fertile between 25 and 45.

How old do southern elephant seals usually live?

Female southern elephant seals live to be about 20 – 25 years old, with males generally only reach 15. How many southern elephant seals are there today? Once hunted nearly to extinction, conservation efforts have brought the southern elephant seal population back to roughly 740,000. Do southern elephant seals have any predators?

What’s the life expectancy of an Asian elephant?

Asian elephants can live up to 80 years or longer; African elephants, 60-70 years. In captivity, however, elephants tend to have a shorter life expectancy due to ailments caused by unnatural living conditions.

How long can an elephant seal hold its breath?

Elephant seals can hold their breath for over 80 minutes, longer than any other non-cetacean mammal. Furthermore, elephant seals are incredible divers as well, with an ability to dive to 1500 metres beneath the oceans surface.

How long does it take for a southern elephant seal to give birth?

Pups are born about five days after the females arrive at the rookery. The babies weight around 32 kg (70 pounds) and will nurse for about 26 days. Southern elephant seal mating occurs during the last few days of the nursing period, and pups are abruptly weaned off their mother’s milk when the mother heads back to sea.