Leopard Seal
Hydrurga leptonyx
Antarctica's apex predator — with a mouth full of krill strainers.
A leopard seal has the head of a reptile, the spots of a big cat and a jaw that opens terrifyingly wide. It's one of the top predators in Antarctica. It's also, unexpectedly, an animal that spends a lot of its time filtering krill.
- Length
- 2.4–3.8 m (8–12 ft)
- Weight
- 200–600 kg
- Lifespan
- About 26 years
- Diet
- Krill, fish, penguins, other seals
- Habitat
- Antarctic pack ice
- Larger sex
- Female
The good stuff.
Teeth that do two jobs
The front teeth are long and sharp for grabbing penguins and seals. The back teeth lock together into a sieve, so the same animal can close its mouth on a gulp of water and strain out krill.
The only seal that hunts seals
Leopard seals regularly eat crabeater seal pups — most crabeater seals alive today carry the scars of an attack they survived as babies.
They sing upside down
In breeding season males hang head-down in the water for hours a day and sing loud, eerie, repeating trills. Each male has his own style, and you can hear them through a ship's hull.
Females outrank males in size
That's unusual for seals. In most species the male is far bigger; here it's the other way around.
They will play with their food
Leopard seals have been filmed catching penguins and thrashing them at the surface. It's how they skin their prey — but it's also part of what gave them their fearsome reputation.
One tried to feed a photographer
National Geographic's Paul Nicklen was repeatedly offered live and then dead penguins by a huge female leopard seal over four days. She appeared to have decided he was a useless predator who needed help.
Wait, really?
- ✦
They can move surprisingly fast on ice — fast enough that Antarctic researchers keep their distance.
- ✦
Hydrurga leptonyx means water worker with a slender claw.
- ✦
Only orcas hunt adult leopard seals.
What it sounds like
Long, ghostly underwater trills, hoots and pulses that sound like a synthesiser being played very slowly.
Where you might see one
Around the Antarctic pack ice, and occasionally wandering as far north as New Zealand and southern Australia.
The trouble
- Krill fishing in the Southern Ocean
- Sea ice loss
- A warming Antarctic reshaping the whole food web
One real thing
Krill is the base of the entire Antarctic food web. Check whether the supplements and pet food in your house contain krill oil — there are alternatives.
More ways to help