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Northern Elephant Seal: Breeding and Conservation Efforts

Learn about the impressive breeding habits and conservation challenges faced by the Northern Elephant Seal, including recovery efforts and protective measures.

yael-kirby
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Northern Elephant Seal: Breeding and Conservation Efforts

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Creature Feature

  2. Northern Elephant Seal(Mirounga angustirostris)

  3. Mammals • Hair • Mammary glands • Derive their name from the large proboscis on males • Used to make loud noises during mating competitions • Males can grow to 14 ft and 5,000 lbs • Females are smaller (11 ft and 1400lbs)

  4. Seven principal breeding areas, four of which are on islands off the coast of California

  5. Breeding! • Returns to its terrestrial breeding ground in December and January • Males arrive first and fight out breeding territory • Lots of bloodshed and injury • Few males actually breed • Females arrive and select a male • Lifetime reproduction potential of a female is about ten pups • Bulls have a harem of females • 30 to 100 cows depending on the size and strength of the bull • In a lifetime a successful bull could easily sire over 500 pups

  6. Conservation • Hunted for their blubber • By the end of the 19th Century population fell to between 100-1000 individuals • Protected since the early 20th Century • Genetic bottleneck • Susceptible to El Nino and resulting weather conditions • Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972) • Numbers have recovered to ~100,000 individuals • In CA the population continues to grow ~25% each year

  7. Video! • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4YWgnRQJGY

  8. Creature Feature

  9. Weedy Sea Dragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus)

  10. Marine fish related to the seahorse • 45 cm in length • Swim in shallow reefs and weed beds • Resemble drifting weed when moving over bare sand • Lack a prehensile tail that enables similar species to clasp and anchor themselves

  11. Found in water 3 to 50 m deep around the southern coastline of Australia

  12. Male of the species carries the fertilized eggs • Attached under his tail • Incubated for about eight weeks • Suck food into the end of their long tube-like snout • Feed on tiny crustaceans and other zooplankton from crevices in reefs

  13. Conservation • Listed as Near Threatened by the World Conservation Union • Pollution and Industrial Runoff • Collected by divers • Washed ashore by storms

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