Northern elephant seal
Mirounga angustirostris
Huge true seals of California and Baja beaches. They breed and moult ashore, then vanish into deep Pacific dives. Watch from a respectful distance.
Least Concern (IUCN, 2015) means it is not at high risk of extinction worldwide today.
Photos show the species, not always the places on this page.
Length
Males over 4 m (13 ft); females about 3 m (10 ft)
Weight
Males up to nearly 2,000 kg (4,400 lb); females up to about 590 kg (1,300 lb)
Next to a person
A breeding bull is longer than two adults end to end and can outweigh a small car; females are still far heavier than a person
What it eats
Mainly squid and fishes, and also rays and sharks.
Around people
Potentially dangerous, respect
How it lives
Males and females look very different. Bulls grow a large, trunk-like nose and fight for groups of females from December to March, when pups are born. Elephant seals spend about nine months a year at sea, diving about 300 to 760 m (1,000 to 2,500 ft) for 20 to 30 minutes to hunt squid and fish. They come ashore on sandy beaches to breed and moult.
Where it goes
They make two long migrations each year, and some have been tracked travelling more than 21,000 km (13,000 miles) round trip. Males and females feed in different places: males mostly toward the Gulf of Alaska and the eastern Aleutians, females more in the open central North Pacific and off Washington and Oregon. They return to sandy beaches to breed in winter and to moult between March and August.
Populations
About 80% of the US population breeds in the Channel Islands, and Año Nuevo and Piedras Blancas are major mainland breeding and viewing sites. The US breeding stock was estimated at about 195,000 seals in 2023 and has been growing. The species also breeds in Baja California, Mexico, where some colonies have declined.
Meet it respectfully
Keep well clear of beach colonies, where huge bulls can charge and mothers defend their pups. Never touch, feed or chase the seals, never try to move one that is moulting, and never step in for a pup that looks alone. In the United States, guidance asks people to stay at least 50 yards (about 46 m) from seals and to use marked trails and viewing platforms; at Año Nuevo, visits from 15 December to 31 March are guided walks only. Move away if a seal stares at you or starts to move.
Fun fact
Tap the bulb to light it up.
They recovered from near extinction after hunting in the 1800s; today's US and Mexican seals descend from a few hundred survivors in Mexico.
An adult male's nose hangs about 20 cm (8 in) over his lip and helps make his loud threat calls.
During the breeding season they do not eat, and can lose up to about 36% of their body weight.
Follow its journey
Choose a journey and watch it travel. Every line comes from satellite tracking or documented research, and the source is named.
StartEndJourney (the line joins documented areas; real paths vary)
Northern elephant seal in the Ocean Atlas
Places we have researched where this animal is recorded. It is never guaranteed, and some places are for watching from the boat only.
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Canada
Mexico
United StatesSources for this page
- NOAA Fisheries
- NPS
- IUCN Red List, 2015
- WoRMS
- NOAA Fisheries, stock assessment (Carretta et al.), 2025
- NOAA Fisheries, marine life viewing guidelines
- California State Parks, Año Nuevo
- The Marine Mammal Center
Facts checked 26 September 2026. Photos: Unsplash licence, or Creative Commons as shown on each photo.
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