Mirounga leonina
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
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).
The southern elephant seal was one of the many species originally described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Phoca leonina. John Edward Gray established the genus Mirounga in 1827.
In the nineteenth century, the species was often called "bottle-nosed seal". The southern elephant seal is distinguished from the northern elephant seal (which does not overlap in range with this species) by its... Wikipedia →
Recording0:14
Argentina · 2019
© Nicolas Olejnik · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
Recording0:09
South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands · 2025
© frances_crdva · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:05
Australia · 2025
Georgina Ngametua · iNaturalist · CC0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Península Valdés | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 2 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oceanopolis | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Elephant Seal sighting in Garden Route National Park on a given day, based on 20 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 35 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Elephant Seal in Garden Route National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–April and August–December, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Elephant Seal sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Southern Elephant Seal sightings, Garden Route National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Península Valdés (Argentina, about 90%) and Great Otway National Park (Australia, about 10%).
Same order: Carnivora
The closest relatives of the Southern Elephant Seal that you can see in Garden Route National Park (order Carnivora, Carnivorans) are Afro-Australian Fur Seal (about 20%), Cape Genet (about 10%) and African Clawless Otter (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Elephant Seal is recorded against all the mammals logged in Garden Route National Park (20 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
