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Study: Elephant Seals Do a Lot of Work to Stay Fat
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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.
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For elephant seals – one of the most distinctive of the 33 species that comprise the world’s seal family – it is hard work to stay fat.
Scientists have conducted the most thorough study to date of the unique feeding behavior of northern elephant seals, focusing on the females of the species during arduous two-month post-breeding migrations in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.
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The seals were found to spend upwards of 20 hours every day – and sometimes a full 24 hours – in continuous deep-diving to feed on multitudes of small fish, rather than the larger prey favored by other deep-diving marine mammals, to gain the body fat essential for successful reproduction and insulation in the frigid depths. They fed 1,000 to 2,000 times daily.