Me and My Mom - Scene 36

Elephant Seal and Pup

Elephant seals spend upwards of 80% of their lives in the ocean. They can hold their breath for more than 100 minutes - longer than any other non-cetacean mammal. Elephant seals dive to 1,550 m beneath the ocean's surface (the deepest recorded dive of an elephant seal is 7,835 ft by a southern elephant seal). The average depth of their dives is about 980 to 1,970 ft, typically for around 20 minutes for females and 60 minutes for males, as they search for their favorite foods, which are skates, rays, squid, octopuses, eels, small sharks and large fish. While excellent swimmers, they are also capable of rapid movement on land.