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Mirounga leonina Mirounga angustirostris | ||||||||||||||||
There are two species of elephant seal. They are the sole members of the genus Mirounga of the family Phocidae or "true sealss".
The species are the Northern Elephant Seal, Mirounga angustirostris, and the Southern Elephant Seal, M. leonina. Both species were hunted nearly to extinction by the end of the nineteenth century but numbers have since recovered. The Southern Elephant Seal is somewhat the bigger of the two.
The elephant seals get their name from their great size and the fact that the adult males have a large proboscis, which is used in making extraordinarily loud roaring noises, especially during the mating season.