Helen Olson, age 9, of Buffalo, N.Y., for her question:
HOW LARGE IS AN ELEPHANT SEAL?
Seals are sleek sea animals with bodies shaped l~ka torpedoes.
Largest of all the seals is the southern elephant seal which lives in the sub Antarctic waters off South America. The male elephant seal may weigh as much as 8,000 pounds and grow to be 21 feet long. This seal ranks second in size only to whales among all sea mammals.
An elephant seal has a long, curved nose. The animal's name, as a matter of fact, came about because of this very large nose which grows to be about 15 inches long.
The animal's tough skin also looks somewhat like an elephant's hide. Seals have four legs, but the leg bones above the ankles are buried inside the body. The parts that extend outside, including the feet, form the animal's large, paddlelike flippers.
Most seals have large, shiny eyes. They can see well and hear well, but they have a poor sense of smell. Most kinds of seals live in groups and may stay together on longer ocean voyages.
Every spring, seals go to their breeding grounds, called rookeries, to have young and to find mates. Most rookeries are on islands. A female seal almost always has one baby seal at a time. A baby elephant seal will have a black coat when it is born.
Seals eat fish, sea birds and squids. A seal has sharp, pointed teeth. The animal cannot chew food because its teeth do not have flat surfaces. Instead, it will grasp and tear its prey. Sometimes it will swallow small fish whole, head first.
The seal's greatest enemy is man. For hundreds of years, hunters have killed seals for blubber, bones, fur and meat. During the 1800s, so many seals were killed that only a few survived. The number of seals has increased during recent years because of careful international management of seal hunting.
Seals make up a group of mammals called Pinnipedia. This name comes from Latin and means fin footed. A seal's flippers look somewhat like fins.
There are three main groups of pinnipeds: eared seals, earless seals and walruses. Elephant seals and harbor seals are in the earless group. These animals have small ear openings, but no ears on the outside of their bodies.
All seals have a layer of blubber one to six inches thick. It helps keep the animals warm, and it also gives them energy when they cannot get food for a period of time.
All seals have slitlike nostrils which they close when they dive or swim under water. An elephant seal swims by moving his body and rear flipper much as a fish would move its body and tail.
The rear flippers of the elephant seal extend straight back, palm to palm. This seal cannot turn its flippers foward. Instead, the animal pulls itself across land or ice by contracting its strong belly muscles.