Southern elephant seal born off Perth coast a rare event, wildlife officers say
Updated
The birth of a southern elephant seal pup off the coast of Western Australia is just the third such event recorded in the state in 20 years, wildlife officers have said.
The pup was born in the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park off Rockingham about a week ago.
But the Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPAW) has refused to reveal exactly where the mother and pup are, in an effort to protect the pair.
The birth was just the 10th recorded across Australia since 1958, and just the third in WA in the past 20 years.
Elephant seals reside in the sub-Antarctic islands area around Macquarie Island off Tasmania, and Heard Island, 4,000 kilometres south-west of Perth, but have been known to travel enormous distances.
DPAW marine park coordinator Melissa Evans said the species rarely travelled this far north.
"This is not the natural habitat for these seals, normally they're on the sub-Antarctic islands which are very isolated," she said.
"They wouldn't have very much human contact at all."
Pups are usually born on ice shelves, and females usually feed around the edge of the pack ice.
Public warned to keep clear of mother and pup
The pup, which weighed around 40 kilograms at birth, will grow to more than 100 kilograms overs the next four to six weeks.
Its sex has not been determined, but male elephant seals can grow to 3,000 kilograms, while females range from between 300 and 900 kilograms.
DPAW has established an exclusion zone of 20 metres around the mother and pup to minimise interference from the public.
"Being that she has had her pup in the middle of the metropolitan area, we've got the risk of people getting to close to the seal, disturbing her, and she won't have a chance to form that bond with the pup," Ms Evans said.
"If people are getting too close and harassing her and disturbing her, there is a chance she might abandon the pup."
Ms Evans said the department had seen a number of sub-Antarctic species off the coast in recent months.
"It's been a very busy winter for us. We've had a lot of seal species venture north in higher than usual numbers," she said.
"We're not entirely sure why she's picked our beach."
Topics: animals, marine-parks, human-interest, shoalwater-6169
First posted
