The penguin hunter
It waits in the water below the ice edge for penguins to jump in.
Polar seas
Leopard seal
Hydrurga leptonyx
A long, lean, spotted seal with a big head and a wide mouth: the top hunter on the Antarctic ice.
- Size
- About 3m long
- Look for it
- October to December, then January to March
- Where
- The pack ice round Antarctica
Glides after you, head up. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Leopard seal
Good to know
Six things about the leopard seal
A wide smile
Its jaws open very wide, and the corners of its mouth turn up as if it is grinning.
Teeth with two jobs
Long front teeth catch big prey. Its back teeth lock together to sieve krill from the water.
Spotted like a leopard
It is named for the dark spots on its silver-grey coat.
A loner
Unlike most seals, leopard seals live and hunt on their own.
Singing under water
Males sing under water for hours on end in the breeding season, hanging upside down.
The real thing
Photos of the leopard seal
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look on ice floes near penguin colonies: a long seal with a head that looks too big for its body, lying on its own.
How to help
Leopard seals need pack ice and plenty of krill. Protecting the Southern Ocean from over-fishing protects them.
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