🦭Southern elephant seal
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. A bull southern elephant seal is about more than twice the weight of a male northern elephant seal as large sub-adult southern elephant seals have weighed 3 tons, as well as more than twice the weight of a male pacific walrus.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2026.
- Body mass
- 1,400 kg
- Body length
- 6.34 m
- Shoulder height
- not recorded
- Top speed
- not recorded
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 23 years
Everything we know about the Southern elephant seal
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass1,400 kgrecord 5,000 kg · SeaLifeBaseCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Record: largest individual on record
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
By sex
- Female800 kgSeaLifeBasev25.04SeaLifeBase populates Weight independently of Length; the two are not guaranteed to describe the same individual. Verify before publishing.
Figures vary
- 1,400 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: low
Body length6.34 mCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
By sex
- Female3 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Figures vary
- 6.85 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Brain mass1,248 gCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan23 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Generation length9.49 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Age at maturity4.4 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation238 daysCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 220 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: low
Litter size1COMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: low
Trophic levelCarnivoreCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleCrepuscular / mixedCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l1,400 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Southern elephant seal yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classMammalia
- ›orderCarnivora
- ›familyPhocidae
- ›genusMirounga
- ›speciesMirounga leonina
- classMammals · Mammalia
- orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
- familyPhocidae
- genusMirounga
All 14 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classMammals · Mammalia
- subclassTheria
- superorderLaurasiatheria
- orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
- suborderCaniformia
- familyPhocidae
- genusMirounga
More about the Southern elephant seal
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