French Southern and Antarctic Lands – Kerguelen II

Postcard of an elephant seal pup, Mirounga leonina, lounging on beach of the French sub-Antarctic island Kerguelen. Southern elephant seals are the largest seal species and, in fact, the largest carnivores living today, with males typically weighing 2,200–4,000 kilograms and measuring 4.2–5.8 meters long! They can dive for 20 minutes at a time and have been recorded at depths exceeding 2,000 meters.

Stamp showing the Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddellii, a relatively large and abundant seal noted for having the most southerly distribution of any mammal, with a habitat that extends as far south as McMurdo Sound at 77° S.