Study: Elephant Seals Do a Lot of Work to Stay Fat The URL has been copied to your clipboard 0:00 0:05:23 0:00 A new study has found that elephant seals have to work very hard to stay fat. The research represents the most complete study to date of the feeding behavior of northern elephant seals. Scientists paid special attention to females of the species during difficult two-month trips, or migrations, in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. The seals were found to spend up to 20 hours every day - and sometimes a full 24 hours - in continuous deep-diving to feed on fish. They fed 1,000 to 2,000 times daily to gain the body fat necessary for reproduction and warmth in the cold waters.