Species | Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) |
---|---|
Born | October 2020 (age 3) |
Residence | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
Weight | 600 kg (1,323 lb; 94 st 7 lb) |
Neil (born October 2020), [1] also known as Neil the Seal, is a southern elephant seal in the Australian state of Tasmania. [2] [3] He was born in Salem Bay, Tasmania. [4]
Neil gained fame in July 2022 after resting in Hobart for his month-long moulting period. While most people kept a safe distance, incidents of humans disturbing the seal led to traffic cones placed to protect him. Neil, playing with the traffic cones, attracted more attention to his unusual behavior. [2] [5]
Later events saw Neil more closely interacting with humans, often leaving the beach and resting on the city's roads, or even following people. [2] In one instance in 2023, Neil was found basking in someone's front lawn for a few hours, [3] while another instance downing a fence in Dunalley. [5] He was relocated in April 2023 after people and dogs harassed him in Kingston Beach. [6] [7]
Neil is an internet celebrity, having at least 126,000 followers on Instagram under the username "neiltheseal22" as of January 20, 2024, [5] [8] and over 730,000 followers on TikTok as of January 3, 2024. [1]
He is being monitored by the Marine Conservation Program, established by Tasmania's Department of Natural Resources and Environment, for health and safety reasons. [2] [9]
Hobart is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the southernmost and least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smallest if territories are taken into account, before Darwin, Northern Territory. Hobart is located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, making it the most southern of Australia's capital cities. Its skyline is dominated by the 1,271-metre (4,170 ft) kunanyi/Mount Wellington, and its harbour forms the second-deepest natural port in the world, with much of the city's waterfront consisting of reclaimed land. The metropolitan area is often referred to as Greater Hobart, to differentiate it from the City of Hobart, one of the seven local government areas that cover the city. It has a mild maritime climate.
Protected areas of Tasmania consist of protected areas located within Tasmania and its immediate onshore waters, including Macquarie Island. It includes areas of crown land managed by Tasmanian Government agencies as well as private reserves. As of 2016, 52% of Tasmania's land area has some form of reservation classification, the majority is managed by the Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service. Marine protected areas cover about 7.9% of state waters.
Freycinet National Park is a national park on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 125 kilometres (78 mi) northeast of Hobart. It occupies a large part of the Freycinet Peninsula, named after French navigator Louis de Freycinet, and Schouten Island. Founded in 1916, it is Tasmania's oldest park, along with Mount Field National Park. Bordering the national park is the small settlement of Coles Bay, and the largest nearby town is Swansea. Freycinet contains part of the rugged Tasmanian coastline and includes the secluded Wineglass Bay. Features of the park include its red and pink granite formations and a series of jagged granite peaks in a line, called "The Hazards".
The River Derwent, also known as timtumili minanya in palawa kani, is a significant river and tidal estuary in Tasmania, Australia. It begins its journey as a freshwater river in the Central Highlands at Lake St Clair, descending over 700 metres (2,300 ft) across a distance of more than 200 kilometres (120 mi). At the settlement of New Norfolk in the Derwent Valley its waters become brackish, flowing through Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania, its seawater estuary eventually empties into Storm Bay and the Tasman Sea.
Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
Año Nuevo State Park is a state park of California, United States, encompassing Año Nuevo Island and Año Nuevo Point, which are known for their pinniped rookeries. Located in San Mateo County, the low, rocky, windswept point juts out into the Pacific Ocean about 55 miles (89 km) south of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve, formerly a separate unit of the California state park system, was merged into Año Nuevo State Park in October 2008. The coastal geographic center, or coastal-midpoint of California is located at the Northern end of this park at N 37°09′58″, W 122°21'40", as the absolute geographic center of California falls at N 37°09′58″, W 119°26′58″W.
Elephant seals or sea elephants are very large, oceangoing earless seals in the genus Mirounga. Both species, the northern elephant seal and the southern elephant seal, were hunted to the brink of extinction for oil by the end of the 19th century, but their numbers have since recovered. They are the largest extant carnivorans, weighing up to 4,000 kilograms (8,800 lb). Despite their name, elephant seals are not closely related to elephants, and the large proboscis or trunk that males have was convergently evolved.
The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first proposed in 1840 in Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Franklin's Legislative Council, was modelled on the Oxford and Cambridge colleges, and was founded in 1846, making it the oldest tertiary institution in the country. The university is a sandstone university, a member of the international Association of Commonwealth Universities, and the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning.
The Wilderness Society is an Australian, community-based, not-for-profit non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation.
Maria Island or wukaluwikiwayna in palawa kani is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The 115.5-square-kilometre (44.6 sq mi) island is contained within the Maria Island National Park, which includes a marine area of 18.78 square kilometres (7.25 sq mi) off the island's northwest coast. The island is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) in length from north to south and, at its widest, is about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west to east. At its closest point, Point Lesueur, the island lies approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) off the east coast of Tasmania.
The Clarke Island, part of the Furneaux Group, is an 82-square-kilometre (32 sq mi) island in Bass Strait, south of Cape Barren Island, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) off the northeast coast of Tasmania, Australia. Banks Strait separates the island from Cape Portland on the mainland.
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service is the government body responsible for managing protected areas of Tasmania on public land, such as national parks, historic sites and regional reserves. Historically it has also had responsibility for managing wildlife, including game.
Port Davey is an oceanic inlet located in the south west region of Tasmania, Australia.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania is the government department of the Tasmanian Government responsible for supporting primary industry development, the protection of Tasmania's natural environment, effective land and water management and the protection of Tasmania's relative disease and pest free status. NRE's responsibilities also include maintaining the security of land tenure, administration of much of the state's Crown lands and delivery of government services through Service Tasmania.
Huon Commonwealth Marine Reserve is a 9,991 km2 marine protected area within Australian waters. The former Tasmanian Seamounts Marine Reserve created in 1999 was incorporated into the Huon reserve in 2007, and is part of the South-east Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network.
The southern elephant seal is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its name from its massive size and the large proboscis of the adult male, which is used to produce very loud roars, especially during the breeding season. A bull southern elephant seal is about 40% heavier than a male northern elephant seal, which is nearly twice the weight of a male walrus, or 6–7 times heavier than the largest living mostly terrestrial carnivorans, the Kodiak bear and the polar bear.
Robbins Island is a 9,900-hectare (24,000-acre) island located in Bass Strait, lying off the northwest coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island, separated from the Tasmanian mainland by a highly tidal area known as Robbins Passage, lies south to the adjacent Walker Island.
The Bathurst Channel is a narrow offshore stretch of water that links Port Davey with Bathurst Harbour in the South West region of Tasmania, Australia. The Bathurst Channel is contained within the Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour Marine Nature Reserve, and the Southwest National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Lavinia State Reserve, formerly Lavinia Nature Reserve, is a 68 km2 protected area on King Island, lying at the western end of Bass Strait and belonging to the Australian state of Tasmania.
Cetacean strandings in Tasmania occur for a number of reasons, with Tasmania considered a "'hotspot" for the event. Between 1825 and 1986, 213 stranding events had been recorded, involving 22 species, and over 3000 individuals.