Scientific Classification Kingdom: Anamalia (Animals) Phylum:--- Chordata Class:------ Mammalia (Mammals) Order:-------- Carnivora (Carnivores) Family:-------- Phocidae (True Seals) Genus:--------- Mirounga Species:--------Two species

Conservation Status

Elephant Seals (genus Latin name: Mirounga) is a genus comprising two species within the true seal family of nineteen species:

• Northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) 
• Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina)

Together with the families of Eared seals and Walruses, True seals form the group of marine mammals known as pinnipeds.

The name of these species is derived from the species size (elephant seals are the largest seals in the world) as well as the prominence of the male's snout.The Southern elephant seal is slightly greater in stature than the  Northern elephant seal.

Both elephant seal species were hunted extensively during the nineteenth century. The Northern elephant seal came close to becoming extinct. However, both populations have made a comeback and are both considered species of  Least Concern by the IUCN with respect to their likelihood of survival.

The Northern elephant seal is found in the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of Alaska down to Baja California. The Southern elephant seal is found in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica, including a myriad of sub-Antarctic islands as far north as the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.

For details, see Northern elephant seal and Southern elephant seal 

Southern elephant seal. Source: Maarten Raes/WoRMS/Encyclopedia of Life	Northern elephant seal. Source: Jan Roletto/NOAA
Southern elephant seal. Source: José Luis Orgeira/WoRMS/Encyclopedia of Life	Northern elephant seal. Source: Fred Sorenson/BioLib/Encyclopedia of Life
Southern elephant seal. Source: Yan Ropert-Coudert/WoRMS/Encyclopedia of Life	Southern elephant seal. Source: Yan Ropert-Coudert/WoRMS/Encyclopedia of Life

Further Reading

• Mirounga angustirostris (Gill, 1866) Encyclopedia of Life (accessed April 15, 2009)
• Mirounga angustirostris, Warburton, K., 2002, Animal Diversity Web (accessed April , 2009)
• Northern Elephant Seal, Seal Conservation Society (accessed April 15, 2009)
• Mirounga angustirostris IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species (accessed April 15, 2009)
• The Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses, Marianne Riedman, University of California Press, 1991 ISBN: 0520064984
• Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Bernd Wursig, Academic Press, 2002 ISBN: 0125513402
• Marine Mammal Research: Conservation beyond Crisis, edited by John E. Reynolds III, William F. Perrin, Randall R. Reeves, Suzanne Montgomery and Timothy J. Ragen, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005 ISBN: 0801882559
• Walker's Mammals of the World, Ronald M. Nowak, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN: 0801857899
• Northern elephant Seal, MarineBio.org (accessed April 15, 2009)