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Leopard Seal attacks

23 February 2005 - 4:00pm, a Leopard Seal appears on the water surface around the boat. This one seams to show some interest in our presence. Quickly we slip into our drysuits and we get into the water. Pascal and I we decide to use dive tanks for deeper underwater shots, Tina and Guy are just free diving.

The Leopard Seal approaches the first time but stays at a certain distance - I start to feel some excitement. Perfectly balanced, like a dance he performs different figures in the water. Just beautiful - my thoughts that same moment. Seconds later, the Leopard Seal gets face to face, I feel my heart beating - what's happening?

No way to breath, no way to leave, the Leopard Seal approaches again and again. With his big mouth open, he tries to grab the camera several times. Finally I can push him away, too close he's coming now. A last bite - one more scratch on the camera housing.

After a while, the Leopard Seal becomes rapidly nervous, therefore the situation unpredictable, time to leave now the water. The predator is now dictating the rules

Male leopard seals can be as long as 250-320 cm and weigh 200-455 kg. Females measure 241-338 cm and weigh 225-591 kg. Pups are 150-160 cm long and weigh up to 35 kg. The leopard seal is characterized by its long streamlined body and the massive, almost reptilian looking head. The nostrils are positioned on top of the muzzle. There is no obvious forehead. This seal has a massive lower jaw, a long neck and a large gape. The seal is silvery dark-grey coloured dorsally, somewhat lighter ventrally, and spotted (counter-shaded). They have long fore-flippers (about 1/3 of the body length).

The canines are long (up to 2.5 cm). The other teeth are multi-lobed.

Distribution

The leopard seal has a circumpolar distribution and is usually found near the Antarctic pack ice. It is regularly spotted at Macquarie Island and on subantarctic islands. The leopard seal may be migratory. There is a segregation by age-class. Young seals may reach the South African and Australian coasts as stragglers.

Feeding

The leopard seal is an opportunistic predator, which feeds on Adelie penguins, krill and seals, especially crabeater seals.

Population dynamics and life history

The age at maturity is probably 3-7 years for females and 2-6 years for males. Longevity is over 26 years. The mortality rate for age 0-1 is 25, for age 1-10: 8 and for ages over 10 years: 5.Behavior

This species reproduces from September through January. For the rest of the year they are solitary. Unlike other phocid seals, the leopard seal uses its large fore-flippers while swimming (sea lion style).

Population size

The population size is probably around 222,000.

Exploitation

Some seals are taken for research purposes and some for dog food, but otherwise there is no catch of leopard seals. The population is not protected or regulated.

Threats to the population

None. Future krill exploitation will have negative effects, directly and indirectly on the food supply of the leopard seal

An: sorry if that was dull .so i couldn't post pics but lok it up on GOOGLE