Storm of the seas: leopard seals of Antarctica. Leopard seal - dangerous and terrible

September 6th, 2012

Do you know what kind of animal this is? Don't be fooled by his cute little face. Below the cut, the photos are practically not for the faint of heart. But what to do, this is natural selection in nature.

So, anyone who wants to learn more about the sea predator and isn’t afraid of a little blood, follow me along...

It seems like a sweet and safe creature of nature. Yes?

Well, imagine yourself as a penguin. He walks along Antarctica, looks into the ocean before diving...

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And there’s such a puck on him!

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then a short chase...

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will catch him with her tenacious teeth

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tight tight...

and then grunt... and that's it... like a monkey newspaper!

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It's a pity for the penguin, but what can you do? He's just food today and didn't pass the exam. natural selection. So what kind of predatory beast is this?

The Sea Leopard (lat. Hydrurga leptonyx) is a species of true seal that lives in the sub-Antarctic regions of the Southern Ocean. It got its name due to its spotted skin, as well as its very predatory behavior. Leopard seal feeds mainly on warm-blooded vertebrates, including penguins and young seals.
Appearance

The leopard seal has a very streamlined body, allowing it to develop great speed in the water. Its head is unusually flattened and looks almost reptile-like. The front fins are greatly elongated and the leopard seal moves in the water with the help of their strong synchronized strokes. The male leopard seal reaches a length of about 3 m, females are somewhat larger with a length of up to 4 m. The weight of males is about 270 kg, and in females it reaches 400 kg. The coloration on the upper part of the body is dark gray and silvery-white below. Gray spots are visible on the head and sides.

The leopard seal is an inhabitant of the Antarctic seas and is found throughout the entire perimeter Antarctic ice. In particular, young individuals swim to the shores of the subantarctic islands and are found there year-round. Occasionally, migrating or stray animals end up in Australia. New Zealand and to Tierra del Fuego.

Along with the killer whale, the leopard seal is the dominant predator of the southern polar region, being able to reach speeds of up to 40 km/h and dive to depths of up to 300 m. It regularly preys on crabeater seals, Weddell seals, eared seals and penguins. Most leopard seals specialize in hunting seals during their lives, although some specialize in hunting penguins. Leopard seals attack their prey in the water and kill it there, however, if the animals flee to the ice, then leopard seals can follow them there. Many crabeater seals have scars on their bodies from attacks by leopard seals.

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It is noteworthy that the leopard seal feeds equally on small animals such as krill. Fish, however, plays a secondary role in its diet. It filters small crustaceans from the water using its lateral teeth, which are similar in structure to the teeth of a crabeater seal, but are less complex and specialized. Through holes in its teeth, the leopard seal can squeeze water out of its mouth, filtering out the krill. On average, its food consists of 45% krill, 35% seals, 10% penguins and 10% other animals (fish, cephalopods).

Leopard seals live alone. Only younger individuals sometimes form small groups. Between November and February, leopard seals mate directly in the water. Except for this period, males and females have virtually no contact. Between September and January, a single calf is born on the ice and is fed with its mother's milk for four weeks. Between the ages of three and four years Leopard seals reach sexual maturity and their average lifespan is about 26 years.

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Sometimes leopard seals also attack people. On July 22, 2003, British scientist Kirsty Brown became the victim of a similar attack while diving. For six minutes, the leopard seal held her with its teeth at a depth of 70 m until she suffocated. This is the only human death associated with leopard seals so far, although there have been repeated attacks in the past. They are not afraid to attack boats or jump out of the water to grab a person's leg. The targets of such attacks were mainly employees of research stations. The reason for this is the frequent tactic of leopard seals, attacking animals located on the edge of ice floes from the water. At the same time, it is not easy for a leopard seal from the water to recognize or distinguish who exactly its prey is. In contrast to examples of aggressive behavior of leopard seals, the famous Canadian photographer and winner of several awards, Paul Nicklen, who photographed their underwater hunting of penguins, argues that peaceful contact can be established with these animals. According to his stories, the leopard seal repeatedly brought him its prey and showed curiosity rather than aggressiveness.

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Leopard seal- one of the largest representatives of the family of true seals, its size and weight are second only to the males of the southern elephant seal. Its scientific name can be translated from Greek and Latin as “diving” or “small-clawed water-working”. At the same time, the “small-clawed” is a real Antarctic predator. It is the only representative of the south polar fauna, a significant part of whose diet is occupied by large warm-blooded animals - penguins, flying waterfowl and even seal brothers. A cute image of a hardworking animal, inspired by Latin name animal, instantly dissipates as soon as you get to know him one-on-one and look into the unblinking eyes of the killer. They literally exude chilling coldness and decisive strength.

This is how Gennady Shandikov describes the hunt for penguins: “ I had to see the bloody meal of a leopard seal from the shore two weeks later, in January 1997, on the same Nelson Island. That day, the ornithologists and I, two married couples - Marco and Patricia Favero, and Pipo and Andrea Caso - went to inspect the colonies of Antarctic blue-eyed cormorants. The day turned out to be unusually warm, bright and sunny. We passed a huge colony of tens of thousands of bearded chinstrap and gentoo penguins. About twenty minutes later, a magnificent coastal landscape opened up to our eyes, which was exactly like the rocky beaches of Kara-Dag with rocks rising at the water's edge. The similarity would be complete if it weren’t for the snow and icebergs, reminding us that this is not Crimea at all. Hundreds of penguins descended to a narrow cove in a crevice between the rocks. All of them covered a two-kilometer path from the colony to this picturesque beach. But for some reason the birds stopped on the shore, not daring to rush into the water. And from above, lines of more and more penguins slid down the ice slide. But they immediately froze in place.

And then I saw the drama unfolding right before our eyes. Penguins began jumping out from under the water onto the coastal edge of the ice like rockets. They flew up to a height of two meters, funnyly splashed on the snow with their bellies and in a panic tried to “swim away” along the hard snow crust away from the shore. And further, about fifty meters away, in a narrow neck lined with rocks, a massacre was taking place. Strong slaps on the water, whipped into a bloody foam, feathers floating everywhere - this was a leopard seal finishing off another penguin. It should be noted that the leopard seal has a very unique tactic of eating its victims. First, he rips off the skin from the penguin's body, like a stocking. To do this, the seal tightly clamps the victim in powerful jaws and furiously thrashes it on the surface of the water.

For a whole hour, as if spellbound, we watched this terrible sight. We counted four penguins that were eaten and one that escaped.»

By the way, in Australia they even released a coin with the image of a leopard seal with a face value of 1 Australian dollar and a total weight of 31.635 grams. 999 silver. On front side The coin depicts a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II of England; on the reverse side of the coin, a leopard seal with a cub is depicted against the background of a map of Antarctica and a landscape with water and ice.

By the way, whose are these? interesting photos? But he is a hero photographer...

Photographer Paul Nicklen went underwater with his camera to photograph one of the most formidable predators Antarctica, leopard seal. Paul was scared - the leopard hunts warm-blooded vertebrates (penguins, seals) and easily tears them apart - but the professional in him still prevailed. It was a very large individual. The female approached the photographer, opened her mouth and wrapped her jaws around his hand with the camera. After a moment, she let go and swam away.

And then she brought him a live penguin, releasing it right in front of Paul. She then caught another one and offered it to him again. Since the photographer did not react in any way (only took pictures), the animal apparently decided that the diver was a worthless predator. Or weak and sick. So she began to catch exhausted penguins for him. Then the dead, who could no longer swim away. She began to bring them directly into the cell, probably believing that it was through it that Paul fed. The penguin man refused to eat. Then the leopard tore one of them into pieces, showing how to handle them.

In an interview, Paul admits that tears were welling up in his eyes at that moment. But he could not do anything, since it is prohibited by law to interact with Antarctic animals. You can only observe. The result was unique photographs for National Geographic.

This is how he himself talks about it...

After the crabeater and Weddell seals, the leopard seal is the most common seal in Antarctica. Scientists estimate that its population is southern seas has about 400 thousand individuals. Today this species is not endangered

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The leopard seal is considered one of the most powerful, ferocious and dangerous Arctic predators. It belongs to the seal family. The leopard seal lives in the Southern Ocean, right up to the edge of the drifting ice, and in all arctic seas.

The bloodthirsty sea predator, like other seals, does not like ice rookeries, preferring proud loneliness to huge companies. That is why at first glance it may seem that there are not so many individuals of this seal species. But in fact, there are more than half a million of these predators.

The leopard seal looks very different from all the others; its long, snake-like body looks more graceful than that of its fellows, and has practically no thick layer of fat. The presence of two rows of powerful sharp teeth and fangs in the predator’s mouth makes it clear that this animal feeds mainly on meat.

His enormous weight and body length also speak about his strength and power. Moreover, females are much larger than males. For comparison: if an adult male with a three-meter length can “pull” 280 kilograms, then females reach a four-meter length and weigh more than four centners!

Leopard seals have a slightly flattened head, dark gray in color, with many dark spots. The back and sides of predators have the same color. But the belly is striking in its sharp whiteness. Apparently, the spotty color of the seal and, perhaps, its ferocity also gave people the idea to call it a leopard.

Preferring solitude , Leopard seals only unite in packs for short periods. Moreover, these groups do not exceed 5 or 6 individuals. Usually " Honeymoon» leopard weddings fall in the summer. But on these days, dedicated to “love,” the ferocious seal remains true to himself, because the process of fertilization of females takes place without mating and courtship, right in the water.

The female carries the future offspring for eleven months, giving birth to a thirty-kilogram cub, usually in early summer, right on the ice. By the way, the mother of a leopard seal is not distinguished by excess tenderness towards her one and a half meter baby: she feeds the baby with her milk for only a month, and then leaves him to his fate.

And so, starting from the age of one month, the baby leopard is forced to independently obtain food for itself in the water. However, the death of young animals is practically not observed, these predators are so strong and invincible, even very small cubs.

The female can mate for the first time at the age of three. For the male, in order to feel in himself “ masculinity", it takes a little longer - 4 years. A leopard seal lives on average for a quarter of a century.

The main diet of the marine predator consists of crustaceans, fish and cephalopods. But woe betide the gape, or the Leopard, sometimes allowing itself to lie next to the adult pinnipeds of its neighbors, will not think of sparing their baby: and I don’t really want to violate the diet...

Of course, sometimes a predator gets to feast on birds. But penguins suffer the most from the evil killer: as you know, they cannot fly.

By the way, regarding the taste preferences of the leopard seal. Some individuals choose an exclusively penguin diet, while others show a preference for young seal meat.

But the worst thing is that a person can become a delicious dinner for this sea animal. It is especially dangerous to be close to the edge of the ice. A leopard can suddenly jump out of the water and grab unwary prey. If the victim manages to escape from the tenacious teeth, then the predator pursues it on the ice.

In the water, the leopard feels, as they say, like a fish: it can stay under it for more than half an hour, and during the swim it develops a speed of more than 40 kilometers per hour, diving to a depth of three hundred meters.

Leopard seal - close-up view seals living off the coast of Antarctica. The leopard seal is known for its predatory nature, its main prey is penguins and small seals of other species, but it can also hunt fish and shellfish.

The leopard seal gets its name from its spotted skin, which is somewhat similar to the skin worn by a leopard cat.

The leopard seal has a ribbed, elongated body, which allows it to swim very quickly underwater. To accelerate, the leopard seal uses its forelimbs, which are elongated. He makes synchronized strikes with them, and uses his hind limbs more for maneuvers.

In leopard seals, females are larger than males. The length of the female can reach 4 meters, while she weighs up to 400 kg. A male sea leopard does not exceed 3 meters and weighs up to 270 kg. The largest known leopard seal is a female, 4.5 meters long and weighing 600 kg.

The leopard seal has inhabited the entire perimeter of Antarctica and can be found in all Antarctic seas. Young leopard seals, in search of their territory, reach the shores of the subantarctic islands, where they can be found all year round. Leopard seals are occasionally found in Australia, New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego.

The head of a leopard seal is somewhat flattened, like that of lizards. The mouth of this predator has two rows of powerful sharp teeth.

The killer whale is a pair of the most dangerous predators in Antarctic waters.

Developing underwater speeds of up to 40 km/h and diving to depths of up to 300 meters, the leopard seal is a thunderstorm for penguins, although most leopard seals prefer to hunt small seals: Weddell seals, crabeater seals, and eared seals. Observations show that every leopard seal specializes in either seals or penguins.

Fish takes second place in the leopard seal's diet. It is important to note that these large predators also eat krill, these are small crustaceans that live in the water column. He filters these crustaceans using his lateral teeth.

This may seem surprising, but krill makes up 45% of the diet of these predators, 35% - small seals, 10% - penguins and another 10% other animals (fish and shellfish).

Leopard seals are like cats - they spend their entire lives alone and only during the mating period do the male and female spend time together. The female gives birth to a single calf and feeds it with milk for four weeks. After four years, a young leopard seal reaches sexual maturity. In nature, these animals live for about 25 years.

Leopard seals can attack people. They usually jump out of the water and grab people by the legs. This is explained by the fact that in the water they do not clearly see the object they are going to attack and mistake it for a seal or a penguin. But there is one fatal case: in 2003, a leopard seal attacked Kirsty Brown, a scientist from Britain, who was underwater diving. The beast held her for several minutes at a depth of 70 meters until she suffocated.

Photographer Paul Nicklen, who is famous for his photographs of leopard seals underwater hunting penguins, claims that it is possible to establish contact with these animals. While he was working with these animals, the leopard seals became rather curious and brought him their prey.

The number of leopard seals today is more than 400 thousand individuals. There is no threat to their numbers. In terms of population size, leopard seals are in third place after the crabeater and Weddell seals.

Leopard seal hunts penguin

I suggest you look at photos of a leopard seal underwater hunting a penguin.

Leopard seal ( Hydrurga leptonyx) - a species from the family of true seals. Like its terrestrial namesake from, the leopard seal is and is at the top. The only animal that preys on leopard seals is the killer whale.

Leopard seals are distributed in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters of the Ross Sea, Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea, South Georgia Island and the Falkland Islands. They are sometimes found along the southern coasts of New Zealand and South. Although the leopard seal's habitat overlaps with other seals, the species is easy to identify.

Leopard seal always smiles

You might think it's obvious distinctive feature The only thing a leopard seal has is its skin is covered with spots. However, many seals have spots. What distinguishes this species is its elongated head and sinuous body, somewhat reminiscent of a furry eel. Body length varies between 3-3.7 meters (females are slightly larger than males), and they weigh 350-450 kg. These animals always appear to be smiling because the edges of their mouths are turned up. The leopard seal is a large animal, but smaller than sea ​​Elephant and a walrus.

Leopard seals are predators

The leopard seal can feed on almost any other species. Like others, representatives of this species have sharp front teeth and long fangs. However, the animal's molars snap together to form a sieve that allows the krill to be filtered from the water. The hatchlings primarily eat krill, but once they learn to hunt, they feed on penguins, squid, shellfish, fish and small seals. These are the only seals that regularly hunt warm-blooded prey. These predators often wait for prey underwater and then attack it.

One leopard seal tried to feed the photographer

Leopard seals are extremely dangerous predators. While attacks on humans are rare, signs of aggressive behavior, harassment and even deaths have been documented. These animals are known to overturn inflatable boats, creating an indirect risk for humans.

However, not all human encounters are threatening. When National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen dove into Antarctic waters to observe animal behavior, the female he photographed brought back injured and dead penguins. It is unknown whether this animal was trying to feed the photographer, teach him how to hunt, or had other motives.

They can play with their food

Leopard seals are known to play cat and mouse with their prey, usually young seals or . They will chase their prey until it runs away or dies, but will not necessarily eat the prey. Scientists are not sure of the reason for this behavior, but believe that it helps hone their hunting skills or is a form of entertainment.

Leopard seals sing underwater

In early summer, male leopard seals sing loudly underwater for several hours every day. When singing, the animal raises the back of its body up, bends its neck, flares its nostrils and sways from side to side. Each male has a distinctive song, and this may change with age. The singing coincides with the breeding season. Females are also known to sing when hormone levels rise during estrus.

These are solitary animals

The exceptions are females with cubs and pairs during the breeding season. Leopard seals copulate in the summer, with a gestation period of about 11 months, at the end of which one cub is born. Feeding the offspring with mother's milk lasts about a month. Females become sexually mature between three and seven years of age. Males mature slightly later, usually between six and seven years of age. Average duration life span is from 12 to 15 years.

The depths of the sea are inhabited by a huge number of inhabitants. Some of them are quite cute and cute creatures, some are very strange, incomprehensible, and some are completely invisible. But now we will talk about one of the most formidable and dangerous inhabitants of the sea - about leopard seal.

Appearance of a leopard seal

Leopard seal belongs to the family seals, and is the largest representative of this species. The size of this predator is impressive - the body length of the male is 3 meters, the female is up to 4 meters.

The weight of females is almost half a ton and about 270-300 kg. in males. As you can see, females cannot boast of grace, but on the contrary, they are quite weighty compared to males. But, despite such size, there is very little on the body of the leopard seal. subcutaneous fat.

The huge body has a streamlined shape, which allows it to develop high speed in the water. Strong and powerful long limbs, as well as natural flexibility, serve the same purpose.

The shape of the skull is flattened, which makes it resemble the head of reptiles. In the mouth of a leopard there are two rows of sharp teeth with fangs up to 2.5 cm. Vision and smell are well developed, there are no auricles.

This leopard, in fact, was called partly for its color - there are random white spots on the dark gray skin of the back. The belly is light, but the pattern of spots on it is, on the contrary, dark. The skin itself is very dense, the fur is short.

Leopard seal habitat

The leopard seal lives in Antarctica, along the entire perimeter of the ice. Juveniles swim to small isolated islands in sub-Antarctic waters and can be there at any time of the year. Animals prefer to stick to the coastline and not swim far into the ocean, except during migration.

The most important delicacy for a leopard seal is penguins.

With the onset of winter cold, leopard seals swim to more warm waters Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, New Zealand, Australia. On the most remote of the inhabited islands, Easter Island, traces of this animal were also found. When the time comes, leopards move back to their Antarctic ice.

Leopard seal lifestyle

Unlike its seal relatives, the leopard seal prefers to live alone rather than gather in large groups on the shore. Only younger individuals can sometimes form small groups.

Males and females do not contact in any way, except for those moments when it is time to mate. During the day, the animals lie calmly on the ice floe, and when night comes, they dive into the water to feed.

When hunting for penguins, a leopard seal can jump onto land

The leopard seal is considered one of the main and dominant predators in its territorial waters. Thanks to the ability to reach a speed of 30-40 km/h in water, the ability to dive to a depth of 300 meters and the ability to jump high out of the water, this sea animal has created the reputation of a real leopard.

Leopard seal diet

Despite its enormous size and fame as a ferocious beast of prey, the basis of the leopard seal's diet (45% of all its food) is krill. Its mouth is designed in such a way that it can filter water through its teeth so that small crustaceans end up inside. This device is similar to the structural features of the mouth of the crabeater seal, but less perfect.

Another significant ingredient in the leopard seal's menu are small mammals - crabeater seals, eared seals, Weddell seals and.

Pictured is a leopard seal cub

Moreover, individual predators can specialize in a certain form animals. It is not clear what caused this - hunting habits, habits or taste preferences.

It is very difficult to catch an adult penguin, which can swim as well as the predator itself, so chicks most often become victims. On penguins and seals the hunt is on mainly due to the fat the leopard needs.

Leopards hunt such prey both in water and by jumping onto land. It often happens that a gaping penguin stands at the edge of the ice, while a predator has already noticed it from the depths.

Being able to deftly and quickly jump onto the ice, the leopard seal easily grabs unwary animals. Some manage to escape and flee, as evidenced by the numerous scars on their bodies.

If it was not possible to escape, then the animal will face a bloody reprisal. The leopard has the habit of skinning its prey by sharp jerks. Swinging its prey from side to side over the water, the leopard seal separates the meat it does not need from its fatty skin.

Such hunting becomes more and more active in the fall, when the predator needs to “warm up” before the cold weather. The animal also feeds on fish, but in very small proportions.

From the water, it is quite difficult for a leopard seal to distinguish what kind of animal it is hunting, so sometimes they even attack people. But this is very rare - only one death involving a person was recorded.

Then the leopard seal attacked the female scientist and dragged her under the water, holding her there until she suffocated. Despite the apparent danger of these large animals, professional photographers still find the courage to study them. And many speak of leopard seals as curious and harmless animals.

Reproduction and lifespan

With the arrival of spring, leopard seals begin their breeding season. In order to attract a female, gentlemen are ready for some sophisticated tricks - for example, in order to amaze her with the power of their voice, they swim into the cavities of icebergs, which work as sound amplifiers, and sing mating songs there.

Having copulated in water in spring or summer, females expect offspring to appear in 11 months, that is, with the arrival of the next warm season. The cubs are born on the ice, immediately surprising in size - up to 30 kg. weight and about one and a half meters in length.

For the first month, the female feeds him with milk, then teaches him to dive and hunt. Leopard seals reach sexual maturity at four years of age, and their life expectancy is about 26 years.

Despite the fact that their current population is about 400 thousand individuals, the life of these large seals directly depends on the amount of drifting Antarctic ice, because they live on it, and their offspring are born on the ice floes.

Therefore, perhaps the main danger for these animals will be global warming. We can only hope that climate change will not threaten their lives.