Wow!

#LeopardSeals #Antarctica #SeaLife #UnderwaterPhotography #Photography

https://youtu.be/UmVWGvO8Yhk?si=WjsDoEu-OgiGzp0L

Hidden hunting strategies of #LeopardSeals reveal their impact on Antarctic ecosystems https://phys.org/news/2025-06-hidden-strategies-leopard-reveal-impact.html

Individual Specialization in a Generalist Apex Predator — The Leopard Seal: Emily Sperou et al. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.71593

"Even though leopard #seals as a species eat a wide variety of prey, most individuals actually focus on just a few types of food... This means that a few highly specialized seals can have a much bigger effect on certain prey populations than we previously thought."

It is amazing, when a #sealion kills a larger #blueshark, and it is of scientific importance when it turns out that #leopardseals even regularly hunt and eat #cartilaginous #fish.

Blog: StefanF.Wirth

Video (2023):
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CysF0Pzurrb/

C. Fallows et al. (2015):
https://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2015.1013058

K. Van Der Linde et al. (2021):
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.795358

Photos

1: author Mark Conlin/NMFS, public domain U.S. 
2: first paper above
3:author cyfer13, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license