Southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina molting at Mauritius Island

[...]after close observations, it was determined that the seal was undergoing a catastrophic molt and chose a rocky area out of the water in the warm tropical sun to go through this process, which was unusual as their natural habitat environment is known to be wet, windy, and cold (Chaise et al., 2019) for breeding and molting such as the sub-Antarctic islands (Bogdanowicz et al., 2013). See PDF.] Molting of the female southern elephant seal on the rock shore of Mauritius. a Map of Mauritius depicting the areas the seal moved along the coast (A = Bain Boeuf on 27 January 2020; B = Pereybere on 27 January 2020; C = Grand Bay on 27 January 2020; D = Pointe Aux Cannoniers area 1 on 28 January 2020; E = Pointe Aux Cannoniers area 2 on 01 February 2020; and F = Pointe Aux Cannoniers area 3 from 01 to 07 February 2020); b, c molting process of the seal during its stay in Mauritius; and d shredded molt skin with hair collected on the rock where the molting took place A daily monitoring of the seal was carried out and observations of the molting stages were recorded (Fig. 1b–d). Acknowledgments The authors thank the National Coast Guard and the Fisheries Protection Service for actively securing the area around the seal during its molting; Dr. Greg Hofmeyr of Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, for his constant scientific advice; Moira Van der Westhuizen, Kim Hubner, and Reef Conservation for their constant support; Dr. Pevashi Gowreesungkur for her veterinary assistance; and Bridgid Wickham for contributing some of the photos.