A giant elephant seal has surprised locals when it came ashore and wandered through town.
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The southern elephant seal was filmed leaving the shore at Point Lonsdale in Victoria and sliding its way towards a nearby street.
The seal attracted dozens of onlookers an caused havoc when it smashed windows at a nearby service station.
Footage shows the seal breaking a wooden fence in its effort to get back on the beach, before eventually making his way back to the ocean safely.
An elephant seal dubbed 'Henry' used to frequent the area around the bay in the early 2000s.
When the seal appeared in Point Lonsdale on Friday, locals speculated it could be Henry. But wildlife experts cast doubt on that theory, saying Henry had not been sighted in about 15 years.
A seal of the same appearance popped up on Saturday at Blairgowrie, a seaside town on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.
Wildlife officers on the scene estimated the seal to be about 500 kilograms.
Southern elephant seals are large ocean-going mammals with adult males weighing up to 3,000 kilograms.
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They are big and cumbersome on land, where they come to breed, but are talented swimmers and divers. Biologists have recorded them diving up to 2 kilometres deep and holding their breath under water for up to 2 hours.
Southern elephant seals breed on land but spend their winters in the frigid Antarctic waters near the Antarctic pack ice.
The public have been urged to stay away from the seal, which could become defensive if approached. It is illegal to touch or feed a seal, with penalties including a potential fine of nearly $3,700.
