Southern elephant seals are the largest seals found in Antarctica. Males can grow as long as a car and weigh as much as two cars combined. They use their thick blubber to keep warm in the icy waters, where they are graceful swimmers capable of diving over 1,000 feet deep for up to two hours to hunt squid, fish and octopus. Elephant seals come onto beaches in colonies during breeding season, where males will battle each other for dominance over harems of females, and females give birth to single pups. They also come ashore to molt their skin and fur. Both northern and southern elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction but have made comebacks under legal protections.
Southern elephant seals are the largest seals found in Antarctica. Males can grow as long as a car and weigh as much as two cars combined. They use their thick blubber to keep warm in the icy waters, where they are graceful swimmers capable of diving over 1,000 feet deep for up to two hours to hunt squid, fish and octopus. Elephant seals come onto beaches in colonies during breeding season, where males will battle each other for dominance over harems of females, and females give birth to single pups. They also come ashore to molt their skin and fur. Both northern and southern elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction but have made comebacks under legal protections.
Southern elephant seals are the largest seals found in Antarctica. Males can grow as long as a car and weigh as much as two cars combined. They use their thick blubber to keep warm in the icy waters, where they are graceful swimmers capable of diving over 1,000 feet deep for up to two hours to hunt squid, fish and octopus. Elephant seals come onto beaches in colonies during breeding season, where males will battle each other for dominance over harems of females, and females give birth to single pups. They also come ashore to molt their skin and fur. Both northern and southern elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction but have made comebacks under legal protections.
Southern elephant seals are the largest seals found in Antarctica. Males can grow as long as a car and weigh as much as two cars combined. They use their thick blubber to keep warm in the icy waters, where they are graceful swimmers capable of diving over 1,000 feet deep for up to two hours to hunt squid, fish and octopus. Elephant seals come onto beaches in colonies during breeding season, where males will battle each other for dominance over harems of females, and females give birth to single pups. They also come ashore to molt their skin and fur. Both northern and southern elephant seals were nearly hunted to extinction but have made comebacks under legal protections.
the planet's largest seals make their home in a frozen world. These giants are southern elephant seals, and they can grow as long as the length of a car and weigh as much as two cars combined. The name “elephant seal” comes from both the males' enormous size and from their giant trunk-like nose, called a proboscis. Females do not have a proboscis and they are much smaller. A thick layer of blubber keeps southern elephant seals warm in their icy habitat. The seals are clumsy on land, but in water they’re graceful swimmers and incredible divers. They can easily dive 1,000 to 4,000 feet to hunt for squid, octopus, and various kinds of fish. Elephant seals are able to stay underwater for 20 minutes or more. The longest underwater session researchers observed is an amazing two hours! When they return to the surface to breathe, it’s only for a few minutes. Then they dive again. While elephant seals spend most of their time swimming, they also gather on beaches in groups called colonies. One reason they come to land is to give birth and breed. Males arrive before females. They battle for dominance, deciding who will have large harems of females. Raising their enormous bodies, the males inflate their snouts and bellow. Usually these confrontations end quickly. However, sometimes only a physical battle can settle the matter. These fights can be bloody, but permanent injury is rare. Females arriving on land give birth to a single pup they’ve been carrying since the previous year. Newborns weigh about 90 pounds. The mother nurses her pup for a little over three weeks. After this, she breeds with a dominant male and then returns to the sea to feed. Her pup now weighs well over 200 pounds and is on its own. If it survives, it too will enter the sea within a couple of months. A second reason elephant seals come to land is to molt. When they molt, they shed old skin and fur and new skin and fur grows. A smaller species, the northern elephant seal, lives in the Pacific Ocean, dispersed from Baja, California to Alaska. Both northern and southern elephant seals were once hunted nearly to extinction. However, under legal protections both have made incredible comebacks.
Super Teacher Worksheets - www.superteacherworksheets.com
Name: ______________________________
World's Largest Seal
by Guy Belleranti
1. Based on the information in the article, describe how an elephant seal's
movements are different on land than in the water.
Super Teacher Worksheets - www.superteacherworksheets.com
Name: ______________________________
World's Largest Seal
by Guy Belleranti
Fill in the missing letters to create a vocabulary word from the article. Then write the full word on the line. Be sure you spell each word correctly.
1. ___ n ___ ___ m o ___ s ____________________________________
hint: extremely large
2. ___ o ___ i n ___ n ___ e ____________________________________
hint: power or superiority over others
3. c ___ u ___ ___ y ____________________________________
hint: awkward; ungainly
4. ___ e r ___ a ___ e n ___ ____________________________________
hint: lasting indefinitely
5. ___ ___ l ___ n i e ___ ____________________________________
hint: groups of elephant seals
6. e ___ ___ i n ___ t ___ ___ n ____________________________________
hint: disappearance from the planet
7. ___ ___ u b ___ e r ____________________________________
hint: fatty tissue that helps sea mammals stay warm
8. ___ e l l ___ ___ ____________________________________
hint: make a loud roaring sound
Super Teacher Worksheets - www.superteacherworksheets.com
Name: ______________________________
World's Largest Seal
by Guy Belleranti
In the article, “World's Largest Seal,” you learned that southern elephant seals reside in the icy waters of Antarctica.
Choose another animal species that lives in Antarctica. Using the
Internet, with your teacher's permission, research five interesting facts about the animal you choose. Describe what you learned on the lines below. Be sure to include the website address where you learned the information about your animal species.
