Northern and southern elephant seals undergo intense breeding seasons with prolonged fasting, fighting injuries, and high pup mortality that raise significant wild animal welfare concerns.
Elephant seal breeding aggregations involve intense natural suffering. Dominant bulls endure deep wounds, exhaustion, and severe weight loss. Subordinate males are repeatedly injured without reproductive success. Pups face crushing by large adults, separation from mothers, and early starvation. Storms flooding rookeries cause mass mortality events. While this suffering is natural, research monitoring population health and the effects of climate change helps identify when anthropogenic stressors compound natural hardship.