Mirounga leonina
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 Table Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 51 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 21st most-seen of the 39 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Elephant Seal in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, April–May and July–November, the lowest months. That is one of Table Mountain National Park's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain against 110 mm in June.
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.
4th of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Southern Elephant Seal sightings, Table Mountain National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Península Valdés (Argentina, about 90%), Great Otway National Park (Australia, about 10%) and Garden Route National Park (South Africa, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Elephant Seal is recorded against all the mammals logged in Table Mountain National Park (51 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.
