Elephant Spit

Map of Heard Island showing Elephant Spit at its eastern (right-hand) end
Slaughtering and processing elephant seals on Sealers Beach at the base of the spit on left - view from north-east - 19th century scene

Elephant Spit is a 9 km long sand spit at the eastern end of subantarctic Heard Island, in the Australian territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, lying in the Southern Ocean on the Kerguelen Plateau about 450 km south-east of the Kerguelen Islands. The name refers to southern elephant seals, also known as sea elephants, which breed in large numbers on Heard Island and formed the basis for commercial sealing for oil there during the 19th century.