Elephant seal on Carcass Island in the Falklands
Carcass lies north-west of West Falkland and south-east of the Jason Islands. It is 10 km ( mi) in length, has a maximum width of km ( mi), and is 19 km2 ( sq mi) in area.[1] The highest points of the island are Stanley Hill and Mount Byng at 220 m (720 ft). The north-eastern coast has cliffs and slopes while there are large sand bays and a tidal rocky point to the north-west. There are also stretches of duneland. Leopard Beach is often used as a landing point. The island's grim-sounding name comes from the ship HMS Carcass, which surveyed the island in 1766. Its accompanying vessel, HMS Jason, gave its name to the nearby Jason Islands, and its captain, John McBride, gave his name to MacBride Head. The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is one of the two extant species of elephant seals. It is both the largest pinniped and member of the order Carnivora living today, as well as the largest Antarctic seal. The seal gets its name from its great size and the large proboscis of the adult males, which is used to make extraordinarily loud roaring noises, especially during the mating season. Rather larger at average than the male northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) (which is 40% lighter) and male walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) (the average North Pacific bull, of the larger race, is times lighter), the adult bull southern elephant seal is without rival the largest carnivoran alive. An average adult male southern elephant seal weighs six to seven times more than the largest terrestrial carnivorans, the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi).[
Size: 4482px × 2988px
Location: Carcass Island Falklands
Photo credit: © Philip Jones / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: atlantic, carcass, elephant, falkland, falklands, horizontal, island, islands, land, leonina, malvinas, mammals, mirounga, sea, seal, south, southern
