Elephant Seals in Tasmania

Of all seals, Southern Elephant Seals are the largest. Males reach 4-5 meters and 4850 pounds, and females can be 2-3 meters long and 1102 pounds. Males have large trunks, called proboscis, which is used to strengthen their vocals--reason number one as to why they are called elephant seals. Despite their enormous size and weight, if tampered, they are to be feared because they can move at incredible speeds (5 miles per hour!). In Tasmania, elephant seals used to breed in on King Island (top left island) before they got slaughtered and wiped out by the sealing industry. Currently, only about 3 elephant seals are spotted on Tasmania each year that range from under a year old to about sixteen years old. The reason they have been spotted here is because their main source of food is squid, which can be found in the deep Antarctic waters. Southern Elephant Seals tend to stay in these places when they are ravaging for food for months, and it is until they have to breed that they go elsewhere because they have another breeding ground. They go to Macquarie Island, where, unlike Tasmania, there is an estimated population of about 86,000 elephant seals. Southern Elephant Seals tend to stay underwater for 85-90 percent of their life. Unfortunately, these seals are listed as endangered on Tasmania's threatened species list. Although in the sea their main predators are great white sharks and killer whales, they have none on land (besides humans, of course).

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