WELLINGTON, New Zealand — He came home the way many young males do — returning to the stretch of Australian coastline where he was born. But Neil is no ordinary local. He weighs as much as a small car, has more social media followers than the entire human population of his home state, and leaves a trail of bent metal and broken fences wherever he goes. Neil is a 1,000-kilogram (2,200-pound) elephant seal, and he is causing quite a stir.
Back in June, the boisterous, blubbery 5-year-old hauled himself ashore in southern Tasmania for his twice-yearly visit to coastal towns, a routine he follows after months of feeding out at sea. This is his 12th visit to land, and it has proven to be his most eventful yet.
Neil has already racked up an impressive list of offenses during this trip: picking fights with parked vehicles, knocking over traffic bollards, destroying a sign warning people about seals, and plowing through a fence that stood no chance against him. When he is not causing mayhem, he simply parks himself wherever he pleases — including the middle of the road — bringing entire towns to a halt.
Despite all of this, officials say their greatest worry is not the property damage. It is the fans.
Neil has built a TikTok following of 1.4 million people — more than double the human population of Tasmania — largely because of his rebellious behavior. Some online admirers have crowned him a kind of anti-establishment hero. Scientists, however, say his antics are simply what young male elephant seals do.
Sophia Volzke, an elephant seal researcher at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, explained that juvenile male elephant seals must practice for the intense dominance battles they will face as adults, where males rear up and slam their chests together to compete for breeding rights. Since there are no other young seals around for Neil to spar with, he has been rehearsing on Toyotas instead.
At a news conference in Hobart on Thursday, Kris Carlyon from Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment asked the public to give Neil some space.
“Neil’s fame is a bit of a double-edged sword,” Carlyon said. “We have had some pretty silly behavior, instances with people carrying their small babies up close to him and simply trying to get that shot for Instagram.”
Officials have urged people to avoid publicly sharing which town Neil is currently visiting, fearing that a dangerous encounter between the seal and an overeager fan could force rangers to relocate him — a risky operation for everyone involved.
Carlyon also raised a more sobering possibility, pointing to a 2023 incident in Norway where a walrus named Freya, who had attracted massive crowds, was euthanized after authorities determined she posed a growing risk to public safety.
“There is a risk here of essentially loving Neil to death,” Carlyon warned.
It is completely normal for seals to return twice a year to the beaches where they were born to rest, shed fur, and fast. Many species wander into coastal towns during these visits. What makes Neil exceptional is that he is the only male elephant seal currently coming ashore in Tasmania.
Volzke explained that elephant seal breeding populations live on sub-Antarctic islands south of Tasmania, and Neil’s mother would have traveled from one of those islands to give birth. Female elephant seals have been spotted in Tasmania before, but they are much smaller — reaching only the size Neil was at one or two years old — and do not create nearly the same level of disruption.
“Humans got rid of those animals and now maybe they are coming back and repopulating areas that they were previously seen in,” Volzke said. “We do need to find a way to coexist.”
That coexistence may become increasingly challenging. If Neil survives to adulthood, he could grow to 5 meters (16 feet) in length and weigh three times what he does now. However, Volzke noted that roughly 90% of male elephant seals do not live long enough to reach breeding age, which is around 10 years old.
For the moment, Neil has claimed a particular stretch of sidewalk as his own, lying there contentedly and unbothered. He has shown a peculiar fondness for an orange traffic cone, which delights his online followers to no end. Rangers have tried to move him along, but he keeps coming back to the same spot.
“He’s obviously decided this puddle surrounded by bollards, which are horizontal at the moment, is his spot,” Carlyon said Thursday.
Residents of the town currently hosting Neil have mixed feelings about their famous guest. Dale Creamer, a local who says he has not been personally inconvenienced by the seal, offered a philosophical take on the situation.
“He’s one of our biggest exports at the moment,” Creamer said. “It’s Neil’s world and we’re just living in it.”
