Scientists have shared what it looks like when two huge elephant seals battle it out to see who will become top dog for the mating season.<\/p>\n
In the footage, two enormous seals writhe around in the surf, trying to bite each other. \u201cThis video captures a high-stakes drama on the beach: a direct challenge for dominance,\u201d says\u00a0Lindsay Young<\/a>, vice president of research at National Geographic Pristine Seas.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n This spectacular combat is about who will have mating rights over the females. \u201cDuring the breeding season, a single, massive reigning male (called a beachmaster) guards a large group of females,\u201d says Young.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here, a younger male challenged the dominant male for the position. The interloper \u201cdecides he is big enough to match the [beachmaster] and aggressively throws down the gauntlet to take his place,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Although dominance behaviours are a normal part of life for\u00a0elephant seals<\/a>, it\u2019s not common for full-blown fights to break out because males have other ways of showing their dominance, such as\u00a0bellowing at each other<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the wild, fighting is dangerous and exhausting, so rivals usually try to settle their differences using loud, booming roars and aggressive posturing to size each other up. Most of the time, one seal backs down,\u201d she says. \u201cSeeing them skip these more subtle signals and erupt into a full-scale battle means the challenger is genuinely confident he can win, giving us a rare front-row seat to a literal \u2018changing of the guard\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n When fights like these do break out, it\u2019s important that the contenders have ample fat reserves to give them energy for the extensive clash.<\/p>\n