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Story: Seals

Elephant seals mating

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Elephant seals mating

Male elephant seals are up to 10 times larger than females; the bigger they are, the better they can defend the beach from other males so they can mate with a large number of females, and pass on their ‘big size’ genes to the next generation. Females in the southern Pacific region are much smaller than those in the southern Atlantic.

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Department of Conservation

Reference: 10048737

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How to cite this page

Lloyd Spencer Davis, Seals – Southern elephant seal, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/6191/elephant-seals-mating (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Lloyd Spencer Davis, published 2 March 2009.