His name is Neil the seal, and this year, he’s gotten absolutely enormous – in size and in popularity.
In case you haven’t seen the viral videos, Neil is a five-and-a-half-year-old southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) who returns each year to the beaches of Hobart, an Australian capital city, to shed his coat.
This year, however, Neil has a beach body bigger than ever. With every extra chunk of blubber, the seal seems to be accruing more and more fans, with a TikTok following of 1.4 million.
As a young pup, Neil was the mere height of a traffic cone.
Now, he can crush one… and does so regularly.
Experts with Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment estimate that the elephant seal is currently galumphing around with 1,000 kilograms under his belt, according to reporting from ABC News Australia.
Still, all that heft hasn’t stopped Neil from hitting up his favorite haunts.
For such a large marine mammal, Neil worms around town with surprising alacrity, and his behavior has earned him the affection of locals and millions online.
Over the years, Neil has been caught napping in the middle of the road…
Lounging in yards…
Pushing past fences and Range Rovers…
And slamming into shed doors…
Virtually any barrier to his curiosity seems to fall under his sheer weight and persistence.
Neil isn’t doing this to be a nuisance. When an elephant seal is shedding, they like to rub up against surfaces, experts explain.
Neil especially loves to gyrate on traffic cones, which are sometimes placed around him when he takes a nap in public areas and won’t budge.
When he gets tired, he is known to rest his head on the bright cones or tuck them under his fins.
On a post about Neil’s return to Tasmania, a user on Reddit commented: “Step one: Cultivate mass. If you are over a literal ton of potential chonky violence, it’s less trouble to put up traffic cones than it would be to risk upsetting you.”
Over the years, however, Neil has grown surprisingly bold with his shedding time, and it’s causing more problems.
The stubborn face he pulls when asked to move was practically made for Olivia Rodrigo’s virally sampled song: “Baby boy, honeybee, oh I love the way you look at me… “
Enamored by his antics online, hundreds of fans are now flocking to see Neil in person.
But as the seal grows bigger, experts suspect he may become more aggressive and territorial.
Keeping a safe distance will become increasingly important as he grows into a fully fledged adult elephant seal.
Next year, Neil is likely to be even bigger.
Officials at Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment are keeping a close eye on the local icon.
frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen>To protect Neil and humans, wildlife officials are now using established techniques to move the seal away from dangerous situations and places.
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They have assured the public that these techniques do not hurt Neil, and they urge anyone who sees the elephant seal to keep a safe distance, roughly 20 meters from the seal, starting from your outstretched hand.
It’s funny to laugh at Neil online, but that’s as close as most of us should get.
This article was fact-checked by Jess Cockerill and edited by Rebecca Dyer. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know.
