Southern Elephant Seal
Southern Elephant SealSouthern Elephant SealSouthern Elephant SealSouthern Elephant Seal

Southern Elephant Seal

Mirounga leonina

Least ConcernNear ThreatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically Endangered
Insufficient data
overall probability at Utría National Natural Park
1 Verified records at Utría National Natural Park
☀️ Diurnal When it's active during daytime hours (6am–6pm)

The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its name from its massive size and the large proboscis of the adult male, which is used to produce very loud roars, especially during the breeding season. A bull southern elephant seal is about more than twice the weight of a male northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) as large sub-adult southern elephant seals have weighed 3 tons, as well as more than twice the weight of a male pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens). Wikipedia →

📅 Monthly Probability

📊

Fewer than 5 records of Southern Elephant Seal at Utría National Natural Park — not enough to chart months honestly.

☀️ When They're Spotted

Most active during daytime hours (6am–6pm) · across all parks (global)

☀️Diurnal
☀️🌙🌙12am6am12pm6pm12am

Global Distribution

Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.

where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is)  ·  parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Probability
1 Península Valdés 🇦🇷 Argentina
80–90%
2 Great Otway National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
5–10%
3 Garden Route National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
5–10%
4 Table Mountain National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
5–10%
5 Utría National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
Insufficient data
6 Tierra del Fuego National Park 🇦🇷 Argentina
Insufficient data
7 Abel Tasman National Park 🇳🇿 New Zealand
Insufficient data
8 Bahía de Loreto National Park 🇲🇽 Mexico
Insufficient data
9 Namib-Naukluft National Park 🇳🇦 Namibia
Insufficient data
10 Galápagos Islands 🇪🇨 Ecuador
Insufficient data
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