Northern elephant seals recovered from near-extinction in the 1890s to over 200,000 today, but individuals still face welfare challenges from shark attacks, entanglement, and climate-driven prey shifts.
Elephant seals bitten by white sharks experience traumatic injuries from high-speed ambush attacks. Non-fatal bites may leave seals with severe wounds that heal imperfectly or cause infection. Young seals in their first years at sea face the highest predation mortality as they learn diving and navigation. Climate-driven prey shifts require seals to invest more energy finding food reducing the budget available for growth and reproduction. Entangled seals experience progressive cutting injury as gear tightens around neck or flippers as the animal grows. Despite these challenges, the population recovery from near-extinction represents a profound conservation success demonstrating what protection can achieve.