The sexual behaviour of male elephant seals may lead to their own extinction.
The more sexually active seals are, the more likely they are to pass away at an earlier age than their less active contemporaries as they have sexual encounters with up to 50 different females during mating season.
During the breeding season, the five-ton male seals are more likely to get harmed in fights with other males. They also go without food for up to three months.
According to the findings of a recent study, the average lifespan of a dominant male is about 10 years, whereas the average lifespan of a female is about 20 years.
The research was conducted by Dr Kyle Lloyd of the University of Pretoria, who said “these breeding seasons are quite chaotic”.
They derive all of their nourishment from the water. When the males come ashore to reproduce, they compete with one another for the opportunity to mate with females and often resort to brutal and sometimes fatal fights.
They have to store large amounts of fat so they can live on land for weeks or months without any food and to compete with other males.
Another study revealed that elephant seals only get an average of two hours of sleep when they’re out foraging at sea.
Scientists, who fastened neoprene caps wired with sensors to the seals’ heads, discovered that the seals take brief “nap-dives” deep underwater while foraging in the open sea, cumulatively getting only about two hours of sleep a day.
The study, published in the journal “Science”, detailed the unusual soporific routine of these creatures. The seals sleep through deep dives with the depth making them less likely to come across predators.
They roll over onto their bellies and spin downward as they fall asleep, eventually regaining consciousness and swimming to the surface to breathe. They have been observed napping on the sea floor. The entire process takes less than 30 minutes.
The northern elephant seal is now primarily located on islands off the coast of California and Baja California, whereas the southern elephant seal inhabits sub-Antarctic regions. There have been sightings along the coast of the Western Cape.
Elephant seals are social animals with a name derived from their size and the male’s balloon-like snout.
The northern elephant seal is yellowish or grey-brown, whereas the southern elephant seal is blue-grey.
Males of both species reach a length of about 6.5m and a weight of about 3 530kg; females reach a length of 3.5m and weigh up to 900kg.
Elephant seals consume fish as well as squid and other cephalopods for food. The northern elephant seal does not migrate; the southern elephant seal breeds on land, but spends the winter at sea, presumably near arctic pack ice.
IOL Environment