Are there leopard seals in antarctica

Leopard seals are named for their spotty coats. Like their big cat namesakes, these Antarctic mammals are carnivores. They have one of the most varied diets of any seal. A large part of this is made up of tiny crustaceans called krill, but they also eat squids, octopuses, penguins and other seabirds. One leopard seal even regurgitated a sea snake. Leopard seals are the only seal species known to actively prey on other seals, taking pups of crabeater, Weddell, Ross, southern elephant and Antarctic fur seals.

Extensive predation by leopard seals is thought to play a substantial role in preventing the growth of some fur seal populations. The leopard seal's teeth reflect their varied diet. Their sharp canines and incisors are used to grab and tear large prey, whereas the molars are a trident shape and are used like a sieve to filter out water when they catch mouthfuls of smaller prey like krill. Leopard seals are agile swimmers but less graceful on land. As true seals in the family Phocidae their small front flippers can't hold up their body, so on land they have to flop along on their bellies.

Leopard seals have a mouthful of imposing teeth that help them capture a variety of prey. Image via Wikimedia Commons. Leopard seals are mainly found around Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands. Some are seen further north, such as on the coasts of New Zealand and Australia, though these are vagrants that have ended up there by accident.

In the Antarctic, leopard seal diets seem to vary through the year. In summer they primarily feed on fish and krill, and in winter when the sea ice expands, they are mostly sustained by bountiful colonies of seals and penguins in the shallower waters. Leopard seals have a well-documented taste for penguins and at up to 3. The seals patrol shorelines, often stationing themselves at colonies, waiting to ambush birds as they transit between land and sea.

These long and muscular marine predators are aided by excellent sight and smell underwater but face a couple of challenges once they have caught a meal. Leopard seals' small forelimbs and small claws aren't suited to holding their floating catches still.

The seals also lack shearing teeth, which carnivores like lions and hyenas use to cut prey into swallowable pieces. Instead, leopard seals must thrash and shake their prey to break it down. Holding one end, the seals rapidly sling their catch in an arc over their heads, smashing it on the water's surface until it breaks open. A clever solution for the seal, although one that might appear rather brutal to an outside observer.

Leopard seals are solitary and often aggressive to one another, particularly around food. There have, however, been rare sightings of leopard seals appearing to work together to break down prey.

Cooperative feeding is more commonly seen in social predators such as killer whales and wolves. Witnesses report pairs of leopard seals tearing king penguins between them in acts of occasional kleptoparasitism - a behaviour where an animal steals food caught by another individual.

Hunting at a penguin colony can mean lots of competing predators. In the case of the kleptoparasitic leopard seals, up to 36 individuals were seen feeding together. It may be more energy efficient for the seal to share its meal and catch another from the ample supply of prey than to defend a kill or stash it somewhere safe. Since the seal doesn't need to thrash the prey about to break it up alone, it likely uses less energy - although it's impossible to say whether the seal considers this.

When humans and leopard seals come face-to-face, our interactions don't always go well. Fatalities have occurred on both sides. On Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition in the early s, Major Thomas Orde-Lees was chased across the ice by a 'sea leopard', described by the Ohinemuri Gazette in as 'a blood-thirty [sic] monster'.

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They are perhaps the greatest wanderers of the Antarctic seals with sightings in Tasmania and a northern record at Heron Island. Heron Island is a subtropical island in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef — quite some distance from the Antarctic! They may occupy some sub-Antarctic islands year-round including Heard Island. In the winter months, young leopard seals from the south visit Macquarie Island. The only natural predator of leopard seals is the killer whale.

An observation of a male elephant seal having killed a leopard seal at Heard Island has been reported, however, this is likely to be an uncommon occurrence. Our researchers are interested in the factors that drive the cyclic nature of the occurrence of leopard seals at Macquarie Island and Tasmania, and are studying seal movements within the pack-ice zone. Conservation status: least concern.

Because leopard seals are solitary animals that live in the Antarctic pack ice, little is known of their biology.