Southern elephant seals (Mirounga Leonina) turned out to wander so far at the time of migration, up to 29,000 miles back and forth, aka New York to Sydney! It is known from research results Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) on the southern sea elephant named Jackson.
WCS began a track record of Jackson's odyssey from December 2010 until November 2011. WCS is tagging Jackson in Admiralty Sound in Tierra del Fuego, Chile, and complete with satellite transmitters so that the exact location of Jackson could be detected when the animals it was sticking to the surface.
During Jackson's wandering, scientists record the entire data to determine migration routes of southern elephant seals. From the analysis, it is known that Jackson did wanderings as far as 1,600 kilometers to the north, starting from the release site, 640 kilometers to the west and 160 kilometers to the south.
Caleb McClennen, Director of ECS Global Marine Programme, said that southern elephant seals very important role to determine the health of the oceans and the distribution of prey species. This study provides clues about how southern elephant seals use the resources in their environment. Southern elephant seals-related areas studied are Patagonia Coast.
WCS has conducted monitoring on 60 elephant seals migrate south from the Atlantic since 1990. Jackson was the first southern elephant seals are monitored migration of the Pacific. Southern elephant seals is one of the largest animals on Earth. Reach 6 feet in size, while weighing up to 3.4 tonnes.
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