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Elvis the Elephant Seal (21/26)


This is also part of this series: All About Animals (26)

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Subjects: Animal Behaviour, Animals, Evolution, Geography, Natural History, Nature

Grade Level: K-Gr3
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No		 Running Time: 25 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No
Copyright Date: 2004
Available in French: No

Elvis is a Californian beach-bum, but instead of a tan he has blubber. He is a North-American Elephant Seal. He was born on a beach 88 km South of San Francisco and the Golden Gate at Año Nuevo State Reserve, the site of the largest mainland breeding colony in the world. Elephant seals congregate onshore at rookeries, where (very noisily) they fight for dominance, mate, give birth and nurse their young during the winter breeding season. During this time they will go without food for 3 months. They'll play, sleep and shed their fur in the spring and summer moulting season. Elvis' greatest enemy is one of the most feared predators on earth, the Great White Shark. For the moment, however, he is safe on the pupping beach – if he can survive being crushed by his massive father, ‘the Beachmaster'. Male elephant seals are big (usually 4.5m long and about 2,300kg, though one was once measured at 18 feet long and 6000 pounds, and females are considerably lighter. Elephant seals feed in the water, so one day soon Elvis will have to risk his life and venture into the Pacific Ocean where the patrolling Jaws will be waiting for him. There, if he survives, he will spend 80-90% of his time underwater, where he is superbly equipped to survive. Leopard seals are the deepest divers in the ocean (maximum recorded depth 5,015 feet), can hold their breath longer than any other mammal (80 minutes), and migrate further than any other mammals (over 6000 miles).

Links: http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/

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