The thoughtless activity of man nearly ruined one of the curious species of animals - the elephant seal. They got their name not only for their huge size (these animals are larger than rhinos), but also for a kind of nasal growth. Fat and fleshy, it looks like an underdeveloped trunk. It is not used as a hand, like a real land elephant, but "works" with a resonator organ, several times amplifying the sound of a roar. He also shows the surrounding relatives how menacing and powerful his master is.
Description
The elephant seal belongs to the pinnipeds, the family of true seals. They are even larger than walruses in size and are the largest in their class of predators. They are distinguished by weight of addition, very rough skin, covered with fur. The fat layer can make up to 30% of the live weight of an elephant. Sexual dimorphism is very pronounced - the size of the males significantly exceeds the size of the females. Another difference is that females do not have a trunk. Two species are known: northern and southern.
The elephant seal dives perfectly, can hold its breath for up to 2 hours and sink to a depth of almost two kilometers. Its speed in water is up to 23 km / h. The food is fish, shellfish, plankton, cephalopods. Among the main enemies (except humans) are killer whales and large sharks. No one threatens them ashore, so they are very careless and can afford to sleep soundly, often with loud snoring. On land, they move with difficulty, pulling their carcass on the front fins. For one such "throw" animals cover a distance of not more than 35 cm.
Females reach puberty by 3-4 years, males at 6-7 years. The breeding season is once a year. It begins with the fact that adult (from 8 years old) males are the first to sail to the rookery and occupy sections of the beach. Then the females pull themselves up and, entering the “conquered” territory, automatically become participants in the harem. One elephant sometimes accounts for up to 50 females (usually within 20). Fights for females can be very cruel. During a tense duel, a sea elephant rises in all its gigantic growth, keeping the body in an upright position on one tail. Young males (up to 8 years old) usually live on the periphery of the rookery and do not try to argue with the owners of the harems.
Pregnancy lasts 11 months. Usually, delivery begins in females 5-6 days after arrival on shore. Newborn babies feed exclusively on mother's milk for 4-5 weeks. They are born with a weight of up to 50 kg, a length of 120 cm. After a month they move to the outskirts of the rookery and after molting, at the age of 3-4 months, go to sea. Females after feeding babies are ready for mating.
South
Animal dimensions: males - 6 meters in length, weight up to 4 tons, females three times smaller. The southern elephant seal (photo in the text) has its own peculiarity: it has a clear separation between the rookeries. Some are used as “maternity wards”, others for several hundred kilometers from them - for feeding. Islands - breeding sites:
- Gough.
- Kerguelen.
- Campbell
- Crozet.
- Macquarie.
- Morion.
- Tierra del Fuego.
- Auckland.
- Prince Edward.
- Falkland.
- Hurd.
- South Georgia.
- South Orkney.
- South Sandwich.
- South Shetland.
The mating period falls on September-November. To date, the total number of animals is up to 700,000 animals.
Northern
A northern relative is not much different in his lifestyle. Mating takes place in February. He has permanent rookeries, where the elephant elephant swims for breeding and for molting. The mainland (the western coast of North America) from Mexico to Canada with pebble beaches or gentle rocky shores has long been chosen by water giants. It is inferior in size to its southern brother, males grow up to 5 meters, their weight ranges from 2.5 tons. They have a large trunk up to 30 cm, in an excited state it increases to 70 cm. Females weigh up to 900 kg, body length up to 3.5 meters.
It was the northern elephant seals that took the brunt of the extermination. After tough measures to ban fishing, their population today has grown to 15 thousand individuals. Not bad at all, given that there were about a hundred left.