Making Energy from Blubber Elephant seals have a thick layer of blubber that keeps them warm in the deep, cold sea. Blubber is fatty tissue found under the skin in all pinnipeds. Blubber is different from other types of fat, however, in that it is laced with blood...
Sensory Ability Elephant seals forage at great depth where it is very dark, even during the day. While there is no evidence of any echolocation ability, foraging appears to depend upon vision and sensitivity of their whiskers – vibrissae. The sensitivity of their eyes...
Thermoregulation Seals control internal temperatures and reduce heat loss by a mechanism called countercurrent heat-exchange. As an example, the arteries carrying warm blood to the hind flippers are meshed with the veins carrying cold blood. Inside this mesh, heat is...
Oxygen Capacity and Utilization Oxygen is used by all mammals to support metabolism and is carried in three ways – as a component of air in the lungs, attached to hemoglobin in the red blood cells, or attached to myoglobin, a similar molecule to hemoglobin that...
Lifespan of an Elephant Seal As with most wild animals, an elephant seal’s life is fraught with danger. As visitors to the rookery can see during the birthing season, a number of seal pups do not survive. High seas can carry a pup out into the ocean, which they cannot...
Molting Beginning in late March and extending into September, each of the seals, with the exception of the weaned pups of that year, will return to the rookery for a month to grow new skin and hair. Because the seals do not circulate blood next to their skin while in...
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