Shore-Based Traits

Sleeping

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Elephant seals tend to sleep a lot while ashore fasting during the birthing period and during the catastrophic molting period as this helps them conserve energy. In a sense, one can say, that they're experiencing a form of hibernation as they not only sleep a lot but also exhibit a drop in their metabolic rate.

Snoring

Elephant seals make a variety of sounds while sleeping, amongst those are loud snores and snorts.

Sleep Apnea

While sleeping on land, elephant seals often stop breathing, a phenomomenon known as sleep apnea. The duration of their non-breathing bouts can last up to 20 minutes or so with these periods interspersed with regular breathing. In order to open their nostrils, they have to sneeze or snort them open, often expelling white mucous.

Yawning

Why people and animals yawn is not quite clear. However, elephant seals appear to yawn for several reasons.

1. To get a quick influx of oxygen

2. To stretch their mouth and neck muscles and maybe clear their ears

3. To display an agonistic threat movement

Sand Flipping

Starting with the newborn pups, all elephant seals like to flip sand over themselves when they're ashore even when their skin is coming off in sizeable sheets along with attached fur during their annual catastrophic molt.

Reasons for sand-flipping are no doubt multi-fold. Scientists tend to believe that they do it to help keep their body temperatures at a comfortable level while ashore. This may well be true. However, females often flip sand in an attempt to cover up the after-birth and their newborn pups as they try to protect them from danger by 'hiding ' them. Furthermore, if a female is being accosted by an unwanted suitor, she may well flip sand at him, preferably in his face.

Then again, sand-flipping may simply be an off-shoot aquatic action of swimming away as they use their fore-flippers in a similar way when trying to escape an intruder in the water, or it might be a reflex action that elephant seals use when cruising comfortably through the seas.

On non-sandy beaches, elephant seals can be seen flipping seaweed and small pebbles onto their backs instead of sand.

Scratching

Just like with the sand-flipping, scratching is a way of life starting with the newborn pups. While on land, all elephant seals spend a fair amount of time scratching various parts of their bodies with the nails on their versatile five-fingered fore-flippers.

Nobody is really sure why they scratch so much, but maybe they scratch because of biting parasites, irritating sand particles, or itchy molting skin.

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Flexing the Tail Flippers

Although all elephant seals tend to flex their tail flippers, females seem to do so more often. They can also be seen ' rubbing ' the tail flippers together, maybe in an effort to remove parasites or other irritating particles.

Raising of a Fore Flipper

Every now and then, an elephant seal will raise one of its fore-flippers straight up in the air and keep it extended there for 2-3 minutes at a time. As they have no blubber there, scientists believe that they do this to help cool their bodies down while on shore.

However, while in the cool water they will also at times raise a fore-flipper in this manner. So maybe they're just stretching out the muscles and tendons just like they do with other parts of their bodies in order to stay limber.

Burying of the Nose

Like dogs, elephant seals sometimes like to bury their noses in the sand or seaweed. Some of them tend to do this when they first come ashore, or when they make a major shift in location along the beach. Maybe they're checking out the scents left behind by others and are either looking for familiar smells or, at least, non-threatening ones.

Movement

On land, all elephant seals seem to be moe or less constantly shifting some part of their body from a simple relocation of a body part to moving a few yards from their current spot.

When one starts, it sets off a chain reaction amongst the closest seals setting in motion almost non-stop unsettled movement during their beach haul-outs despite their propensity for sleep.

Fighting and Bickering

Male elephant seals of all ages seem to particpate almost constantly in bouts of fighting from the time they're weaners. The most intense of these fights occur between sub-adult and adult males for dominance in the hierarchy, territorial rights, and mating rights.

Female elephant seals of all ages tend to bicker more than out and out fight, squabbling primarily over encroachment into their personal space.

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