Diet of the Northern Elephant Seal

The population of northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, has increased greatly during the past eight decades and may now number about 127,000 rangewide (Bartholomew and Hubbs 1960; Cooper and Stewart 1983; Stewart et al., this volume). Elephant seal behavior during brief periods ashore has been well documented (e.g., Bartholomew 1952; Le Boeuf 1974; Reiter, Panken, and Le Boeuf 1981), but their foraging ecology has only recently come under study (Hacker 1986; Antonelis et al. 1987; Le Boeuf et al. 1988, 1989; DeLong and Stewart 1991; Sakamoto et al. 1989; DeLong, Stewart, and Hill 1992; Le Boeuf, this volume; Stewart and