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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

‘Altruistic’ bull elephant seal lends a helping flipper

Male elephant seals generally have nothing to do with pups — but astounded scientists observed a notable exception.
Visitors keep a safe distance from a vocalizing elephant seal bull at Drakes Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020.

A bull elephant seal bellows at Point Reyes National Seashore in California, where a large male rescued a young seal from an ocean undertow. Credit: Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle/Getty

The dramatic rescue of an elephant seal pup swept out to sea could be the first recorded example of male altruism in the species1.

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Nature 626, 459 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00319-x

References

  1. Allen, S. G., Lau, M. J. & Codde, S. A. Mar. Mamm. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13105 (2024).

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