Editing Northern elephant seal (section)

==Range and ecology==
[[File:E-seal Mom and pup, Piedras Blancas 2009.jpg|thumb|350px|Mother and pup, [[Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area|Piedras Blancas]] ]]The northern elephant seal lives in the eastern [[Pacific Ocean]]. They spend most of their time at sea, and usually only come to land to give birth, breed, and molt.  These activities occur at rookeries that are located on offshore islands or remote mainland beaches.  The majority of these rookeries are in California and northern Baja California, ranging from [[Point Reyes|Point Reyes National Seashore]], California to Isla Natividad, Mexico.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Stewart BS, Yochem PK, Huber HR, DeLong RL, Jameson RJ, Sydeman WJ, Allen SG, Le Boeuf BJ | year = 1994 | chapter = History and present status of the Northern elephant seal population | veditors = Le Boeuf BJ, Laws RM | title = Elephant Seals: Population Ecology, Behavior, and Physiology |  publisher = University of California Press | location = Berkeley, CA | pages = 29–48 | isbn = 978-0520083646 }}</ref> Significant breeding colonies exist at [[Channel Islands of California|Channel Islands]], [[Año Nuevo State Reserve]], [[Piedras Blancas Light]], and the [[Farallon Islands]] in the US,<ref name="stock">[http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/po2007sene-ca.pdf U.S. Pacific Marine Mammal Stock Assessments: 2007 (NMFS-SWFSC-414)]. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2011-09-15.</ref> and [[Isla Guadalupe]], Isla Benito del Este and [[Isla Cedros]] in Mexico.<ref name="stock"/> In recent decades the breeding range has extended northwards. In 1976 the first pup was found on [[Point Reyes]] and a breeding colony established there in 1981.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Colonization by Northern Elephant Seals of the Point Reyes Peninsula, California | vauthors = Allen SG, Peaslee SC, Huber HR |year=1989 |journal= Marine Mammal Science |volume=5 |number=3 |pages=298–302 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.1989.tb00342.x| bibcode = 1989MMamS...5..298A }}</ref> Since the mid-1990s some breeding has been observed at [[Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge|Castle Rock]] in Northern California and [[Cape Arago State Park|Shell Island]] off Oregon,<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Hodder J, Brown RF, Cziesla C |year=1998 |title=The northern elephant seal in Oregon: A pupping range extension and onshore occurrence |journal=Marine Mammal Science |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=873–881 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-7692.1998.tb00772.x|bibcode=1998MMamS..14..873H }}</ref> and in January 2009 the first elephant seal births were recorded in British Columbia at [[Race Rocks Marine Protected Area|Race Rocks]].<ref>[http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm Elephant Seal birth of baby ninene] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304013135/http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm |date=4 March 2018 }}. Racerocks.com. Retrieved on 2011-09-15.</ref> The California breeding population is now demographically isolated from the population in Baja California.<ref name="stock"/>

Northern elephant seals exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism in their feeding behaviours.  When the males leave their rookeries, they migrate northwards to their feeding grounds along the continental shelf from Washington to the western Aleutians in Alaska.<ref name="Ecology">{{cite journal |vauthors=Le Boeuf B, Crocker D, Costa D, Blackwell S, Webb P |year=2000 |title=Foraging ecology of northern elephant seals |journal=Ecological Monographs |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=353–382 |jstor=2657207 |doi=10.1890/0012-9615(2000)070[0353:feones]2.0.co;2 }}</ref><ref name="Feeding">{{cite journal |vauthors=Condit R, Le Boeuf BJ |year=1984 |volume=65 |journal=J. Mammal. |pages=281–290 |doi=10.2307/1381167 |title=Feeding Habits and Feeding Grounds of the Northern Elephant Seal |issue=2 |jstor=1381167}}</ref> The males mostly feed on benthic organisms on the ocean floor.<ref name="Ecology"/> When the females leave their rookeries, they head north or west into open ocean, and forage across a large area in the northeastern Pacific.<ref name="Ecology"/> They have been recorded as far west as [[Hawaii]].<ref name="Ecology"/> Female elephant seals feed mainly on pelagic organisms in the water column.<ref name="Ecology"/>

[[Vagrancy (biology)|Vagrant]] elephant seals possibly appear on tropical regions such as at [[Mariana Islands]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Marine Protected Species of the Mariana Islands |url=http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/Library/PRD/ESA%20Consultation/Marianas_Species_List_Jan_2015.pdf |work=National Marine Fisheries Service |date=January 2015}}</ref> Historical occurrences of elephant seal presence, residential or occasional, in western North Pacific are fairly unknown. There have been two records of vagrants visiting to [[Japan]]ese coasts; a male on [[Niijima]] in 1989<ref>{{cite web |title=Whale appearance! |url=http://niijima.jp/mt/archives/2011/03/post_326.html |date=4 March 2011 |work=Niijima.jp}}</ref> and a young seal on beaches in Hasama, [[Tateyama, Chiba|Tateyama]] in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~dorsals/honyu/azarasi.htm |title=アザラシ |access-date=2014-05-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514093937/http://www9.ocn.ne.jp/~dorsals/honyu/azarasi.htm |archive-date=14 May 2014}} retrieved on 14-05-2015</ref> A {{convert|2.5|m|adj=on}} female was found on Sanze beach, [[Tsuruoka, Yamagata]] in October 2017, making it the first record from [[Sea of Japan]]. This individual was severely weakened but showing signs of recovery after receiving medications at [[Kamo Aquarium]], and the aquarium is{{when|date=October 2024}} discussing whether or not to release her.<ref>{{cite web |author=Kahoku Shimpō |title=Goron kinta elephant seal on the beach protected for the first time on the Japan Sea side |url=http://sp.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201711/20171103_53003.html |year=2017 |language=Japanese |author-link=Kahoku Shimpō |access-date=3 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817225601/https://sp.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201711/20171103_53003.html |archive-date=17 August 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Some individuals have been observed on the coast of northeast Asia. Certain individuals established haul-out sites at the [[Commander Islands]] in the early 2000s; however, due to aggressive interactions with local [[Steller sea lion]]s, long-term colonization is not expected.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.2mn.org/downloads/bookshelf/mm3_book/308-386.pdf |author=Kuznetsov V.B. |title=Marine Mammals of the Holarctic |year=2004 |chapter=Fluctuations of dolphins' abundance in northern and northeastern parts of the Black Sea according to polling data (1995–2003)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=North Sea Elephant Mirounga angustirostris Gill, 1866 |url=http://komandorsky.ru/mirounga-angustirostris-gill.html |language=Russian |work=FGBU State Nature Biosphere Reserve }}</ref>

[[File:Mirounga angustirostris, Point Reyes.jpg|thumb|left|Adult male northern elephant seal at Point Reyes National Seashore, California]]

Female elephant seals forage in the open ocean, while male elephant seals forage along the continental shelf.<ref name="Ecology"/> Males usually dive straight down to the ocean floor and stay at the bottom foraging for benthic prey.<ref name="Ecology"/> The females hunt for pelagic prey in the open ocean, and dive deeper — up to {{convert|1735|m|0}}, though on average about {{convert|500|m|sigfig=3}} — and stay down longer than the males.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Robinson PW, Costa DP, Crocker DE, Gallo-Reynoso JP, Champagne CD, Fowler MA, Goetsch C, Goetz KT, Hassrick JL, Hückstädt LA, Kuhn CE, Maresh JL, Maxwell SM, McDonald BI, Peterson SH, Simmons SE, Teutschel NM, Villegas-Amtmann S, Yoda K |title=Foraging behavior and success of a mesopelagic predator in the northeast Pacific Ocean: insights from a data-rich species, the northern elephant seal |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=e36728 |date=2012-05-15 |pmid=22615801 |pmc=3352920 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0036728 |bibcode=2012PLoSO...736728R |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Ecology"/>  Female elephant seals have been tagged and found to dive almost continuously for 20 hours or more a day, mostly in {{convert|400|to|600|m|sigfig=3|adj=on}} deep water, where small fish are abundant.<ref name="Pain">{{cite journal |last1=Pain |first1=Stephanie |title=Call of the deep |journal=Knowable Magazine |publisher=Annual Reviews |date=31 May 2022 |doi=10.1146/knowable-052622-3 |doi-access=free |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/deep-diving-animals-ocean-twilight-zone |access-date=9 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Northern elephant seals eat a variety of prey, including [[Mesopelagic zone|mesopelagic]] fish such as [[Lanternfish|myctophids]], deep-water squid, [[North Pacific hake|Pacific hake]], pelagic crustaceans, relatively small sharks, rays, and [[Chimaera|ratfish]].<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Goetsch C, Conners MG, Budge SM, Mitani Y, Walker WA, Bromaghin JF, Simmons SE, Reichmuth CJ, Costa DP |year=2018 |title=Energy-rich mesopelagic fishes revealed as a critical prey resource for a deep-diving predator using Quantitative Fatty Acid Signature Analysis |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |volume=5 |pages=430 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2018.00430 |url=https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1389&context=biology_fac_pubs |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Feeding"/><ref name="Stomach">{{cite journal |vauthors=Morejohn GV, Beltz DM |title=Contents of the stomach of an elephant seal |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=51 |pages=173–174 |doi=10.2307/1378554 |issue=1 |year=1970 |jstor=1378554}}</ref> ''[[Octopoteuthis deletron]]'' squid are a common prey item, one study found this species in the stomachs of 58% of individuals sampled off the coast of California.<ref>{{cite book |title=Elephant Seals: Population ecology, behavior, and physiology |vauthors=Le Beouf BJ, Laws LM |year=1994 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-08364-6 |pages=213–214 }}</ref> A female northern elephant seal was documented in 2013 by a deep sea camera at a depth of {{convert|894|m|ft|abbr=on}}, where she consumed a [[Pacific hagfish]], slurping it up from the ocean floor. The event was reported by a Ukrainian boy named Kirill Dudko, who further reported the find to scientists in [[Canada]].<ref>[http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/50768/boy+in+ukraine+makes+amazing+long-distance+deep-sea+discovery/ Outdoor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228010223/http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/50768/boy+in+ukraine+makes+amazing+long-distance+deep-sea+discovery/ |date=28 February 2013 }}. GrindTV. Retrieved on 2014-03-18.</ref> Elephant seals do not need to drink, as they get their water from food and metabolism of fats.

While hunting in the dark depths, elephant seals seem to locate their prey at least partly by vision; the [[bioluminescence]] of some prey animals can facilitate their capture. Elephant seals do not have a developed a system of [[Animal echolocation|echolocation]] in the manner of cetaceans, but their [[vibrissae]], which are sensitive to vibrations, are assumed to play a role in search of food. Males and females differ in diving behavior. Males tend to hug the continental shelf while making deep dives and forage along the bottom,<ref name="Ecology"/> while females have more jagged routes and forage in the open ocean.<ref name="Ecology"/> Elephant seals are prey for [[orca]]s and [[great white sharks]]. Both are most likely to hunt pups, and seldom hunt large bull elephant seals, but have taken seals of all ages. The shark, when hunting adults, is most likely to ambush a seal with a damaging bite and wait until it is weakened by blood loss to finish the kill.<ref>[http://www.pelagic.org/montereybay/pelagic/greatwhiteshark.html White Sharks – Carcharodon carcharias]. Pelagic Shark Research Foundation.</ref>