Mirounga leonina
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
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...
Recording0:09
South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands · 2025
© frances_crdva · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 🇬🇸 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
| 2 | Península Valdés | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands | 🇦🇶 Antarctica | |
| 4 | Falkland Islands | 🇫🇰 Falkland Islands | |
| 5 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 2 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oceanopolis | 🇫🇷 France |
Very likely
About 90% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Elephant Seal sighting in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands on a given day, based on 431 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 9 mammals we can rate there.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, about 90% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Elephant Seal in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season. May to September have too few records to rate.
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.
Yes
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Southern Elephant Seal sightings, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands has the highest daily chance: about 90%. Next come Península Valdés (Argentina, about 80%) and Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands (Antarctica, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Phocidae
The closest relatives of the Southern Elephant Seal that you can see in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (family Phocidae, Earless Seals) are Leopard Seal (about 30%) and Weddell Seal (about 20%), 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 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (431 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.
