More and more Southern elephant seals are finding their way to Cape Town’s shores, far from their usual Antarctic homes, to rest and shed their coats – a vulnerable but necessary process.
Cape Town, South Africa (13 March 2025) – The majestic shores of Cape Town have been graced by the presence of southern elephant seals – enormous and gentle giants from the vast South Atlantic Ocean!
This natural occurrence provides a unique opportunity for the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation to teach us more about a seal species very different to our local Cape fur seals.
The southern elephant seals seen at a few beaches along the Western Cape coastline have come here to rest and moult. This is a vulnerable time for the elephant seals as they completely shed their outermost layer of skin and fur.
According to the Foundation’s Laura du Toit and Martine Viljoen, these seals are often considered as vagrants, as our coastlines are outside their normal geographic range – which is mostly within the Southern Ocean, with breeding and resting sites being on the Subantarctic and Antarctic islands.
One well-known vagrant named “Buffel” is a southern elephant seal that first appeared in Buffelsbaai in 2016. He was tagged and expected to migrate to the Southern Ocean. However, in the following years, Buffel began to reappear at Duiker Island, Fish Hoek Beach, and around Cape Point for his annual moult. Now, he is incredibly popular in the local communities!
Some cool facts about these large seals
Laura and Martine share that this species is the largest of the world’s seal species; southern elephant seals are true giants of the seal world. Males can grow to lengths of nearly 7m and weigh as much as 5 tonnes!
“The most iconic feature of male southern elephant seals is undoubtedly their large noses (proboscises), which amplify their roars during territorial displays and competition over mates.”
“Females are much smaller than males, typically reaching 3m in length and weighing up to 900kg. Despite their impressive size, southern elephant seals are graceful and quick in the water.”
These massive sea creatures mainly feed on fish and squid and spend up to 85% of the year at sea, only coming ashore for breeding, moulting, and wintering. Remarkably, many elephant seals forage as far as 5,000 kilometers from their terrestrial haul-out sites!
With many of these majestic creatures finding their way to our shores this season, the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation urges beachgoers to respect their space, avoid interacting with them and limit loud noise as these factors may cause unnecessary stress, energy depletion, and even injury to both seals and humans.
Sources: Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation
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