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AnAge entry for Mirounga leonina


Classification (HAGRID: 02577)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Carnivora
                Family: Phocidae
                    Genus: Mirounga
SpeciesMirounga leonina
Common nameSouthern elephant seal

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevityNot yet established
Observations

The total gestation time, of about 11.5 months, includes a 3 to 4 months period of delayed implantation [0443]. Males are typically much bigger than females. In the wild, males have been reported to live more than 23 years [0001], and there are anecdotal reports of animals living over 25 years. Their longevity in captivity has not been studied in detail, but one specimen lived 23.7 years [0671].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity1,059 days
Male sexual maturity1,825 days
Gestation220 days
Weaning21 days
Litter size1 (viviparous)
Litters per year1
Inter-litter interval365 days
Weight at birth42,500 g
Weight at weaning124,500 g
Adult weight1,400,000 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0008 days-1 (from Gompertz function)

Metabolism

No information on metabolism available.

References

[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0443] Ronald Nowak (2003), Walker's Marine Mammals of the World
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
[0001] Longevity Records: Life Spans of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Fish

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 180671
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
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