Sea Elephants
One of my new favorite animals
Sea Elephants
K.L. Orion
Imagine a rocky beach coated with colonies of black and white, flightless birds interspersed with large, semi-aquatic mammals. These mammals don’t have feet or paws in a traditional sense but flippers. And they’re huge. They dwarf the flightless birds they coexist with. Right now, the beach is fairly calm, besides the persistent cawing of the flightless birds. But that peace is soon to be interrupted.
A loud roar resounds from the shore, its rumbles felt throughout the ground. The origin of the sound can be traced back to a male member of this peculiar mammal species. He’s enormous, bigger than most of the other mammals he shares the beach with. He also looks fairly different from the females and pups. He looks something like an aquatic elephant, with an inflatable snout and sharp canines protruding from his bottom lip, similar to small tusks. He doesn’t roar for simply no reason. This was a battle cry.
Something even louder roars back. Another male. This one is even larger than the first. The first one is challenging the bigger one to a duel, for the bigger one owns this beach. This is his territory. These are his females. The two monsters lock eyes with each other and growl. Then, they charge. They plow over birds and female members of their species alike on a straight path towards their adversary. Finally, a part of the crowded beach becomes vacant, allowing the two bulls to take center stage.
They both rear up on their hips, using their heads to reach for the sky. They are sizing each other up. The growling becomes more intense. Tension is building rapidly. At last, the dance of death breaks, the smaller male lunging out for the larger one’s neck and biting it. But before it can get a good bite, the larger one throws its head down on the smaller one. The battle has begun.
The two titans ram their bulk into each other, biting and scraping away at one another’s blubber. Bleeding scrapes erupt all over their necks and heads from wounds. Finally, the larger one overpowers his rival, chasing him off the beach and back into the sea. As his opponent retreats, he roars in triumph.
These are sea elephants, or more commonly known as elephant seals.
Sea elephants are bizarre and incredible creatures that I’ve just now begun to fully appreciate. They’re big, they’re unique, and they’re loud. I’ve been watching a lot of videos of them online recently. Of course, it is kind of difficult for me to see one living in the middle of Southern Iowa, which you probably know isn’t anywhere near the ocean. It is probably because of this fact that South Georgia Island is now on my bucket list for places to visit.
Sea elephants aren’t typically kept in captivity considering their unique nature. However, I have recently found a video on YouTube that displays one of the few that was kept in captivity. Actually, it is because of that video I have started calling them sea elephants. I like the name “sea elephant” over “elephant seal” because I think it makes them sound so much more mysterious and interesting.
The video is extremely old and features Roland, a male sea elephant kept in the Berlin Zoo nearly a century ago. I don’t know much about Roland, but I can’t imagine he had the best life he could’ve had being alone in an old fashioned zoo. In the video, you can see how his habitat doesn’t quite fit his requirements. But it is still a fascinating watch because Roland is BIG. Plus, his roar at the end makes him even more awe-inspiring. I’m going to link the video so you can enjoy the wonder of sea elephants yourself.
excellent description.
Good writing. Our mind's eyes saw the majestic sea elephants, heard the roars, saw the females getting trampled or rolling away! Thanks for acquainting us with these wonderful creatures!