All dressed up with no where to go – Leopard Seals..

January 10, 2010   

lepiceflow
Lep in Ryder Bay with Leonie behind (my playground) this was taken on the way back from a trip to Lagoon.

20091204x1paulnicklen

This is a picture by Paul Nicklen of a Lep that was one of the winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards.

Leps are the bain of our lives down here at Rothera. The Marine Team is effected sometimes on a daily basis by their prescence. At least 4 dives since I have been here that I was meant to do have been aborted when we were fully kitted up about to go in as a result of them. It really is frustrating when we have work to do. Someone described them as sinister and evil looking they really are. I don’t like snakes at all and leps look like reptiles and swim like reptiles as well.

They are the second largest species of seal down here only the ellie (elephant seal) is larger. The leopard seal is the Antarctic’s equivalent of the polar bear and is the top predator on the continent. It has canine teeth that are 2.5 cm (1 in). Read more about them here.

 

2 Responses to “All dressed up with no where to go – Leopard Seals..”

  1. Paige January 25th, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    Um, YIKES.

    In the New Yorker article, they also mention that the Leopard seals will actually follow you as you walk on the ice – under the ice. Absolutely creepy. More so I imagine for the BAS as you lost a scientist there in 2003. How very sad. Do you ever dive in cages, as they do for sharks, so that you can continue your research?

  2. admin January 26th, 2010 at 8:06 am

    No we don’t dive in cages and yes they will follow boats and have been known to hole them by biting the tubes but it is them exploring apparently! Yes they are creepy and sometimes you get the hebe jebees diving and feel like they are watching you… Yes Kirsty’s death was very sad for BAS – the current base commander was the dive officer at the time the story is pretty chilling.