It is hard to guess what a Southern elephant seal weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) on average weights 1600 kg (3527.39 lbs).
The Southern elephant seal is from the family Phocidae (genus: Mirounga). It is usually born with about 39.45 kg (86.96 lbs). They can live for up to 23 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 3.69 meter (12′ 2″). Usually, Southern elephant seals have 1 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is one of the 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 40% heavier than a male northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris), more than twice as heavy as a male walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), and 6–7 times heavier than the largest living terrestrial carnivorans, the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi).
Animals of the same family as a Southern elephant seal
We found other animals of the Phocidae family:
- Spotted seal bringing 99.02 kilos (218.3 lbs) to the scale
- Harp seal bringing 132.25 kilos (291.56 lbs) to the scale
- Northern elephant seal bringing 1116.2 kilos (2460.8 lbs) to the scale
- Grey seal bringing 197.29 kilos (434.95 lbs) to the scale
- Ross seal bringing 208.63 kilos (459.95 lbs) to the scale
- Hawaiian monk seal bringing 223 kilos (491.63 lbs) to the scale
- Ringed seal bringing 71.1 kilos (156.75 lbs) to the scale
- Leopard seal bringing 352.84 kilos (777.88 lbs) to the scale
- Harp seal bringing 132 kilos (291.01 lbs) to the scale
- Baikal seal bringing 89.5 kilos (197.31 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Southern elephant seal
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Mirounga leonina:
- Indian rhinoceros with a weight of 1839.1 kilos (4054.52 lbs)
- Javan rhinoceros with a weight of 1740 kilos (3836.04 lbs)
- False killer whale with a weight of 1360 kilos (2998.28 lbs)
- Beluga whale with a weight of 1380.82 kilos (3044.18 lbs)
- Hippopotamus with a weight of 1528.16 kilos (3369.01 lbs)
- Strap-toothed whale with a weight of 1500 kilos (3306.93 lbs)
- Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale with a weight of 1500 kilos (3306.93 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Southern elephant seal
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Southern elephant seal:
- Pygmy beaked whale with a size of 3.72 meter (12′ 3″)
- White-beaked dolphin with a size of 3.05 meter (10′ 1″)
- West Indian manatee with a size of 3.5 meter (11′ 6″)
- Javan rhinoceros with a size of 3.1 meter (10′ 3″)
- Beluga whale with a size of 4.25 meter (14′ 0″)
- Northern giraffe with a size of 4.18 meter (13′ 9″)
- Indian rhinoceros with a size of 3.74 meter (12′ 4″)
- Andrews’ beaked whale with a size of 4.26 meter (14′ 0″)
- Leopard seal with a size of 3.05 meter (10′ 0″)
- African manatee with a size of 3.5 meter (11′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Southern elephant seal
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Southern elephant seal:
- Mountain paca
- Baikal seal
- Large-eared pied bat
- White-bellied free-tailed bat
- Wagner’s bonneted bat
- Hairy-legged vampire bat
- African pygmy squirrel
- Serotine bat
- Malayan civet
- Black and rufous elephant shrew
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Southern elephant seal
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Southern elephant seal:
- Common eland with an average maximal age of 24.33 years
- Brown fur seal with an average maximal age of 21 years
- Eastern grey kangaroo with an average maximal age of 24 years
- Lesser horseshoe bat with an average maximal age of 21 years
- Common wallaroo with an average maximal age of 24 years
- East Caucasian tur with an average maximal age of 22 years
- Eurasian lynx with an average maximal age of 26.75 years
- Red wolf with an average maximal age of 20 years
- Alpine ibex with an average maximal age of 22.25 years
- Bennett’s tree-kangaroo with an average maximal age of 20 years