Leopard Seal
The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). It is a top order predator, feeding on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, fish, and birds, particularly penguins. Its only natural predator is the orca. It is the only species in the genus Hydrurga. Its closest relatives are the Ross seal, the crabeater seal, and the Weddell seal, which are all Antarctic seals of the tribe Lobodontini.
Deception Island
Gabriel de Castilla Base, Antarctica
+16 birds+6 mammals
Steaming geothermal vents pierce a landscape of blackened volcanic sand and ice, where the earth’s raw power still trembles beneath […]
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOCuverville Island
Cuverville Island, Antarctica
+14 birds+7 mammals
Where black volcanic peaks jut from the Gerlache Strait, penguin colonies blanket the rocky shores in a cacophony of sound […]
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGONeko Harbour
Neko Harbour, Antarctica
+17 birds+10 mammals
Towering peaks of fractured ice rise abruptly from gunmetal waters, their faces scarred by millennia of glacial advance and retreat. […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEParadise Bay
Brown Station, Antarctica
+14 birds+5 mammals
Where granite peaks plunge into the Bismarck Strait, a sheltered cove reveals one of Antarctica’s most dramatic ecosystems. Paradise Bay’s […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEBrown Bluff
Brown Bluff, Antarctica
+18 birds+3 mammals
Where rust-colored volcanic peaks pierce the Antarctic Peninsula’s icy realm, a geologist’s dreamscape unfolds beneath towering cliffs of iron oxide […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEPort Lockroy
Port Lockroy, Antarctica
+14 birds+6 mammals
Towering peaks of black rock pierce through Antarctic pack ice on the Gerlache Strait, where one of the continent’s most […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEPetermann Island
Petermann Island, Antarctica
+14 birds+7 mammals
Icebound cliffs rise dramatically from the Bellingshausen Sea, their weathered faces sculpted by millennia of Antarctic wind and tide. This […]
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGODanco Island
Danco Island, Antarctica
+14 birds+5 mammals
Dramatic black rock pierces the Antarctic Peninsula’s icy waters, crowned with permanent snow and ringed by calving glaciers that thunder […]
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOWilhelmina Bay
Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctica
+17 birds+10 mammals
Sheer cliffs of black volcanic rock plunge into waters so pristine they reflect the Antarctic sky like polished obsidian. This […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPELemaire Channel
Orne Harbour, Antarctica
+17 birds+10 mammals
Where granite peaks plunge into steel-grey waters, the Lemaire Channel carves one of Antarctica’s most dramatic passages. This narrow strait, […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPESt. Andrews Bay
South Georgia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+28 birds+11 mammals
Where windswept tundra dissolves into obsidian beaches, one of the planet’s most extraordinary wildlife theaters unfolds across St. Andrews Bay. […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPEFortuna Bay
Stromness, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+26 birds+9 mammals
Where tussock grasslands sweep down to black-sand beaches and elephant seals haul out in thunderous colonies, the raw sub-Antarctic landscape […]
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPECooper Bay
Cooper Bay, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+27 birds+9 mammals
Where black-sand beaches meet towering cliffs striped with cascading meltwater, one of the Southern Ocean’s most dramatic amphitheaters reveals itself. […]
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No community observations of this species yet.