A new study has found that elephant seals have to work very hard to stay fat. The research represents the most complete study to date of the feeding behavior of northern elephant seals. Scientists paid special attention to females of the species during difficult two-month trips, or migrations, in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The seals were found to spend up to 20 hours every day - and sometimes a full 24 hours - in continuous deep-diving to feed on fish. They fed 1,000 to 2,000 times daily to gain the body fat necessary for reproduction and warmth in the cold waters. Taiki Adachi of the University of St Andrews in Scotland led the study, which recently appeared in the journal Science Advances. It is not easy to get fat, Adachi said. Researchers studied 48 female elephant seals from Ao Nuevo State Park in California as they traveled large ocean distances. Their entire trip was around 6,000 kilometers. Scientists based their findings on data collected in 2011 and 2018. They used three small removable devices. One device, attached under the jaw, counted the number of times the seals fed and measured their depth. A second satellite-linked device, attached to the head, followed the seals’ ocean movements. The third device was a smart video camera with an infra-red LED light and another depth sensor. It was also attached to the head. Elephant seals get their name from the large noses of the males. These noses look like an elephant's trunk. There are two species - the northern elephant seal and the slightly larger southern elephant seal. The two are the world's biggest seals and the largest ocean mammals other than whales.
