noun

• A large seal that breeds on the west coast of North America and the islands around Antarctica. The male is much larger than the female and has a very thick neck and an inflatable snout.

  Genus Mirounga, family Phocidae: two species

  ‘It's home to the threatened southern elephant seal, the fur seal, two species of albatross and several species of, yes, penguin.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘To a lesser extent harbor seals are eaten, and we suspect on at least one occasion the birds found and fed upon a dead elephant seal.’
  • ‘The northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris, is known as the deepest continually diving phocid seal.’
  • ‘However, the overall allelic diversity of the Mediterranean monk seal, together with that of the Hawaiian monk seal and that of the northern elephant seal, is among the lowest recorded.’
  • ‘A male southern elephant seal, like the juvenile in the foreground here, is unmistakable, with an inflatable nose and four tons of flesh.’