How do elephant seals mate and give birth?
Once a year, adult elephant seals “haul out” on beaches. This is when they fight for harems, have babies, and mate. They have a delayed fertlization process so the females mate right after giving birth and then deliver the pup the next year.
What is the difference between male and female elephant seals?
Sexual dimorphism is extreme, with male elephant seals weighing up to 10 times more than females, and having a prominent proboscis. Elephant seals take their name from the large proboscis of the adult male (bull), reminiscent of an elephant's trunk, and considered a secondary sexual characteristic.
How do elephant seals fight?
Elephant seal males fight with threats, vocalizations, and lunging to establish their territory. A threat is when a male raises up on his front flippers. This is followed by vocalizing into the proboscis. Subordinate males will immediately lie down and thus a hierarchy is established.
Can you see elephant seals matting?
Learn more about elephant seals. The resulting matings, both successful and unsuccessful, are sometimes difficult for visitors to watch, especially if they have spent the previous weeks witnessing cows nurse their ever-fattening and often vocalizing dark-furred pups.
See more
How do elephant seals reproduce?
Pups are born in early winter from December to January. Breeding occurs from December to March, and gestation lasts around 11 months. Northern elephant seals are polygynous breeders with a social hierarchy. Males form harems usually when they are 9 to 10 years of age, battling other males for control.
Do elephant seals mate on land?
Southern elephant seals breed on land but spend their winters in the frigid Antarctic waters near the Antarctic pack ice. Southern elephants are the largest of all seals. Males can be over 20 feet long and weigh up to 8,800 pounds.
How often do elephant seals reproduce?
Most young females breed only once before they die; the rest may breed two to four times before they die. If a female successfully gives birth for the first time, she may take a long recovery period before attempting pregnancy again. The diet of a female northern elephant seal yearling.
How do elephant seals have babies?
At the height of the breeding season a strong alpha male may have a harem of a dozen or more females surrounding him and with whom he will mate. After giving birth, the females will remain on the beach with their pup for three to five weeks. Pups are born right on the beach.
How long are seals pregnant?
about 11 monthsGray seals live for 25 to 35 years. They gather in large groups to mate. Males that breed on land can mate with many different females in a single breeding season. Females are pregnant for about 11 months and give birth to a single pup.
Can a seal mate with a penguin?
It ain't pretty, but unfortunately it's real: Researchers have recorded multiple instances of Antarctic fur seals attempting to have sex with king penguins.
Why are elephant seals so aggressive?
Only the biggest and fiercest bull seals get to sire offspring. So natural selection has gradually made the bulls extremely aggressive and given them tools to scare other bulls: elephant-like snouts, the ability to trumpet, and body weights three to seven times that of the cows.
Do seals lay eggs or give birth?
Answer 1: Seals (members of the Family Phocidae) reproduce the same way as most terrestrial mammals, that is, they mate, give birth, and suckle their young on land (or in some cases ice).
What is a female elephant seal called?
They are very much larger than other pinnipeds, with southern elephant seal bulls typically reaching a length of 5 m (16 ft) and a weight of 3,000 kg (7,000 lb), and are much larger than the adult females (cows), with some exceptionally large males reaching up to 6 m (20 ft) in length and weighing 4,000 kg (9,000 lb); ...
How do seals get pregnant?
Seals are mammals, so their reproduction process is like humans (sperm fertilizes an egg). The females have an egg inside their uteruses, which is protected by fluids. After it is fertilized it forms into a seal pup for about 9-11 months (depending on what seal species you are looking at).
How many babies can a seal have at once?
Females generally give birth to one pup each year. Multiple births are extremely rare, but twin fetuses have been documented.
Do male seals give birth?
Adult females usually mate and give birth to one pup every year; the size of a pup can be 1/4 to 1/3 that of the mother. The gestation period is 9-11 months. Females will give birth on shore, on ice floes and in the water.
How do elephant seals fight?
Elephant seal males fight with threats, vocalizations, and lunging to establish their territory. A threat is when a male raises up on his front flippers. This is followed by vocalizing into the proboscis. Subordinate males will immediately lie down and thus a hierarchy is established. If two alpha males are in the same area and do not move apart with the vocalized threats then they will physically fight by lunging at each other, using their cornified chests as a protective shield. This may result in blood-shed but rarely results in any real physical damage. Eventually one animal will give up, lie down and move away from the "winner's" territory.
Where do elephant seals live?
The southern elephant seal, the larger of the two species, is found primarily along the coast of Antarctica, the tip of South America and the islands in this area . Both species are deep divers and feed on fish, cephalopods and crustaceans in the water column. They make long migrations twice a year - once to molt (shed their fur and regrow a new coat) and once for reproduction. Molting generally occurs in summer months and reproduction occurs in winter months. Thus, the southern elephant seal is molting in December/January (the southern hemisphere summer) when the northern elephant seal is reproducing. And, the southern elephant seal is reproducing in June/July (the southern hemisphere winter) when the northern elephant seal is molting.
What would happen if the elephant twists its trunk?
The elephant would twist her trunk, the seal would come unglued, the fight would be stopped in the third round and called a draw. The referee ruling that neither fighter was in condition to continue.
What happens if you disturb an elephant seal?
If a colony is disturbed (by an airplane swooping down or people scaring them) during the time babies are on the beach, the adults may be so afraid that they race to the water and may accidentally squish and kill the babies. In the United States there are strict laws against disturbing any marine mammals so this rarely happens. In fact, some of the rookery areas are right next to highways and humans hiking along the cliff-tops seem to have almost no impact on the Elephant Seals.
Why are sea lions so social?
Sea Lions also tend to be larger than seals. Because of their ability to walk on land, and to be extremely social, they are often used in marine shows.
When do harems mate?
Mating occurs about three weeks after females give birth. They will mate with the male who has defended their harem from attack by other males during the nursing period. The mating is often very loud as the females bark when the male bites their neck and pins them down. After mating the females will leave the beach, thus weaning their baby. They will swim far out to sea to eat.
Is a seal the same as a sea lion?
Seals and Sea Lions are not the same. Both, however, are in the same family - Pinnipeds (meaning fin-footed).
When do seals breed?
Birthing and breeding season takes place December through March. Adult male seals (bulls) and large sub-adult male seals begin to arrive in late November, with most arriving in December.
When do seal pups leave the beach?
By mid-March, most of the adult seals are gone, leaving the pups behind. As the beach becomes less populated, the pups start exploring the shallow water just off shore. Clumsy with their newly acquired weight, it takes some time before they are able to swim well. They mostly go into the water at night. This helps to prepare them for dives at sea where it will be dark all of the time. Most depart by late March or early April.
When do elephant seals molt?
Although some adult females arrive in March to molt, we won't get to see the adult cows who have just given birth until April or May when they return to molt. (Molt? What’s that? Return for our last chapter of Elephant Seal Tales to learn more! ) In the meantime, the newly-weaned pups are left on the beach to fend for themselves.
How far away from seals can you keep from elephant seals?
Please note: Disrupting behavioral patterns of seals is prohibited. Please adhere to all elephant seal protection closures, and stay at least 25 feet away from seals outside of the protection closures.
How does a cow's implantation work?
Here's how delayed implantation works. When the cows copulate as they are finishing nursing their pups, often mating with multiple partners, their egg is fertilized. They are indeed technically pregnant with a fertilized blastocyst floating around in their uterus. But, because their bodies are so depleted, both from nursing their pups and from fasting, they need to bulk up again before the blastocyst implants and begins to develop. As a result, the blastocyst floats in the uterus for several months before implanting in the uterine wall and beginning development. So, though gestation lasts for 11 months, the actual development of the pup fetus occurs over seven months after the delayed implantationof the blastocyst into the uterine wall.
What month do elephant seals give birth?
After the domestic month of January, primarily dedicated in the elephant seal world to the cows giving birth to and nursing their pups, February is a wild month for elephant seal bulls and the cows they are pursuing. The pursuit and the mating are neither delicate nor always mutually agreeable. A recently-born elephant seal pup nurses ...
What happens to cows after they give birth?
Once the cows have given birth and nursed their pups, their "parental" responsibilities end, and the pups are on their own to learn how to survive. The cows' last task before leaving land is not to launch their pups into the next stage of their lives—it is to mate.
What is the elephant seal bull's month?
After the domestic month of January, primarily dedicated in the elephant sealworld to the cows giving birth to and nursing their pups, February is a wild month for elephant seal bulls and the cows they are pursuing. The pursuit and the mating are neither delicate nor always mutually agreeable.
How long do cows mate after giving birth?
The cows mate about a month after they have given birth, and then become pregnant again. So, does that mean that cows are pregnant almost all the time?
How do elephant seals fight?
Elephant seal males fight with threats, vocalizations, and lunging to establish their territory. A threat is when a male raises up on his front flippers. This is followed by vocalizing into the proboscis. Subordinate males will immediately lie down and thus a hierarchy is established.
How long do elephant seals nurse?
Elephant seal pups nursing. (GA images) Pups will nurse for three to five weeks after their birth. Elephant seals have extremely rich milk and the babies gain weight daily. The milk is very thick, similar to pudding. Harem moms do little except sleep and feed their babies.
What is the name of the beach where elephant seals molt?
Every year they migrate back to the beaches where they were born (and where they molt during the summer). During reproduction, these beaches are called rookeries.
When do harems mate?
Mating occurs about three weeks after females give birth. They will mate with the male who has defended their harem from attack by other males during the nursing period. The mating is often very loud as the females bark when the male bites their neck and pins them down. After mating the females will leave the beach, thus weaning their baby. They will swim far out to sea to eat.
Do gulls announce a new birth?
Gulls announcing a new birth in the harem. (GA images) A flock of gulls often announces an elephant seal birth. The gulls flock to a newly born baby within seconds and attack the afterbirth on the beach.
Where do elephant seals breed?
The most northerly breeding location on the Pacific Coast is at Race Rocks, at the southern tip of Vancouver Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
How long does it take for an elephant seal to molt?
Once a year, elephant seals go through a process called molting where they shed the outer layer of hair and skin. This molting process takes up to a month to complete . When it comes time to molt, they will haul out on land to shed their outer layer, and will not consume any food during this time. The females and juveniles will molt first, followed by the sub adult males, and finally the large mature males.
How deep do eels dive?
The average depth of their dives is about 300 to 600 m (1,000 to 2,000 ft), typically for around 20 minutes for females and 60 minutes for males, as they search for their favorite foods, which are skates, rays, squid, octopuses, eels, small sharks and large fish. Their stomachs also often contain gastroliths.
How long do seals live?
The longest life expectancy of a male northern elephant seal is approximately 14 years.
How deep do elephant seals dive?
Elephant seals dive to 1,550 m (5,090 ft) beneath the ocean's surface (the deepest recorded dive of an elephant seal is 2,388 m (7,835 ft) by a southern elephant seal, while the record for the northern elephant seal is 1,735 m (5,692 ft)).
How much does an elephant seal weigh?
When elephant seals are born, they can weigh up to 36 kilograms (79 pounds) and reach lengths up to 122 cm (4 ft 0 in).
What is the genus of elephant seals?
For the superfamily of sea slugs, see Pterotracheoidea. Elephant seals are large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus Mirounga. The two species, the northern elephant seal ( M. angustirostris) and the southern elephant seal ( M. leonina ), were both hunted to the brink of extinction by the end of the 19th century, ...
