Adaptations
Thermoregulation
Since elephant seals are mammals, they are endothermic or warm-blooded animals maintaining a body temperature pretty close to that of humans. Adults have an approximately five-inch layer of blubber which provides them with insulation against the cold ocean waters. This thick layer of fat lies between their muscles and their skin. Additionally, an elaborate network of blood vessels provides a counter-current heat exchange mechanism, useful both in the sea and on land. To keep them warm in the sea, returning cooled blood is heated by outgoing blood on its way to the surface of the body. To help them stay cool on land, this system can divert the heated blood to two areas of the body. The primary area to which it is diverted is the skin where the heat is expelled into the air. The other area to which the heated blood can be diverted are the blubber-free flippers, which the elephant seals are constantly flexing to help keep their bodies cool.
( Click any photo to enlarge )
A Steaming Male
Nasal Turbinates
The amount of water elephant seals lose on land is controlled by the nasal turbinates and the counter-current heat exchange mechanism. This highly effective temporal counter-current exchange mechanism in their nasal passages minimizes the amount of water lost from their respiratory system. This system is composed of a series of boney, shelf-like structures in the nasal passageway covered with another system of channels of moist tissue and mucous. When the elephant seal exhales, warm, water-saturated air from the lungs passes across the cooled nasal surfaces. This causes the water to condense out of it and remain within the nasal passages rather than evaporating into the air. ( Using this system while on land, elephant seals can conserve up to 92% of their valuable body water.)
Concentrated Urine
Elephant seals have large and powerful kidneys which can concentrate large amounts of toxins into a small amount of urine. This is especially useful during their fasting times ashore. Their resulting urine is thick and brightly colored.
Puddles of Urine
Small Intestine
Elephant seals have an extremely long and efficient small intestine that is twenty five times their body length. ( The small intestine of a human is only five times body length. ) This specialized intestine enables elephant seals to digest their food very quickly...even as fast as six hours. Whereas humans can take up to fifteen hours to digest their food.