What You Think About Leopard Seals Is Probably Wrong

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Leopard seals might be smarter
hunters than we actually thought.

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Leopard seals have
always had a reputation.

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Aggressive, solitary, and unpredictable.

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But what if they're also strategic?

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Because new research shows that they
may be far more calculated than we

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have ever given them credit for.

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Leopard Seals sit near the
top of the Antarctic food web.

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They eat penguins, they eat fish,
and they eat other seals, but they're

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actually understudied compared to
orcas, which we talked about yesterday.

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The media attention
that leopard seals get.

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A lot of times you'll
see them in cartoons.

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A lot of times you'll see them
in movies where they are trying

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to hunt humans or they're trying
to be aggressive against humans.

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Because they are a solitary animal, they
do get a little protective and they can

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get aggressive towards divers who are
in the water and have a camera on them.

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They've never really seen
anybody get hurt by them.

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I don't know if there've been
any reports, but we don't really

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see a lot of behavioral studies.

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We don't really see a lot of
videos where you're actually

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learning about these leopard seals.

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You see them as enemies of the penguin.

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You don't see them being hunted by orcas.

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You don't really see them mating.

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You don't really see
'em rearing their young.

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It's a really interesting conundrum that
you have here with an animal that is not

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exactly studied very well, and probably
a lot of people have some bad or myths

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about them, thinking that they're only
aggressive and they're not very good.

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But people do study them.

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In recent tagging and drone
studies have shown that they use

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ambush strategies near ice edges.

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They have energy efficient
hunting patterns.

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They have a repeated use of
successful hunting zones.

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You see all of these behaviors.

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They're very interesting behaviors and
a lot of times, like you can almost

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compare them to big cats on land.

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I know they're called leopard
seals ' cause they've got the spots.

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But they use a lot of the same tactics.

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Ambush strategies.

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They have to be energy efficient
because if they're not, you know,

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there's not as if there's a lot
of food that's found them for them

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around there, just like in the African
Savannah for a lot of the big cats.

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And of course, if you know of a hunting
zone that is very popular, you'll

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repeat that hunting zone as a tactic.

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So I think that's a really
interesting tactic for these animals.

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Now it's interesting that new findings
have suggested that some leopard

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seals specialize more than others.

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So individuals so consistent
behavior patterns.

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I think that's really interesting.

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This is not just random predation.

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This is an animal that is very
interesting in the fact that it will

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hunt in different ways, and the more
efficient it can get, the better it is.

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So do better hunters actually
shape the ecosystems more.

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I mean, we talked yesterday about
how orcas learn and they have

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patterns and they work together
and they become better hunters.

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And then when climate change rears
its ugly head and you see melting

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of ice, we're seeing that orcas are
actually thriving in these conditions.

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And of course, their prey species, leopard
seals, other seals as well as penguins

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also feel the burden of this type of work.

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And so putting animal personality
research in there when you look at

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hunting, it's very interesting 'cause some
individuals will be better than others.

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And it's just because they
take more chances that could

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be good or that could be bad.

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They are willing to try new things.

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And so that will make their hunting
better in most places, depending on

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the risk, of course, of what's around.

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So that's something to think about when
we start thinking about how a hunter

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gets smarter how a hunter can do really,
really well in these types of conditions.

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Now, of course, now you have
climate pressure that's hitting

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it just like it does for orcas.

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And as ice changes,
hunting grounds will shift.

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Penguin access also changes
and competition may increase.

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So leopard seals may have
to adapt pretty fast.

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Just like polar bears in the Arctic.

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Polar bears are losing ice flows
and they need ice flows 'cause

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they are a Marine mammal even
though people may not know that.

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Polar bears are in the water
more than 60% of the time,

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which makes them Marine mammals.

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And so when the ice melts and they
need to rest from swimming, 'cause

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they do need to rest and they need to
hunt from that point of view, get the

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seals and grab them and bring them up.

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If you've ever seen polar bears at a zoo.

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You know, one of the interesting
things, they'll have these barrels that

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are kind of open, and those barrels
are, and they're put in the water.

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They're supposed to mimic seals
being in the water as a bear goes

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down with this big claws, grabs
it with its nails and punctures the

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seal and brings it up onto the ice.

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That's what those barrels
mimic, by the way.

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That's what they're supposed to mimic,
And so it gets that behavior trains

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them to be that, to use that behavior.

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So I think that's kind of interesting, but
ice really matters for these polar bears.

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And if you are losing ice due to
climate change, a lot of these

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bears are having to swim longer.

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They're drowning because of
it 'cause they can't keep up.

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And so now they're being more on land,
so they've had to change their way.

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And a lot of that has become
because of their death.

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So there are winners and losers.

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Orcas do well when ice recedes,
but also leopard seals, we're

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not sure how they're gonna do.

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We're not sure if they're gonna put
more pressure on penguins or if they're

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gonna put less pressure on penguins.

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And the thing is, is in a unknown role,
in an ecosystem with an animal that's

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not really studied, we just don't fully
understand how much pressure they put on

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penguins and how they compete with orcas.

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That's a really interesting thing is
like, are they dangerous to orcas?

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Do they fight against orcas?

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I really don't know to be honest.

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I don't know much about
these leopard seals.

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Over the weeks we'll probably try and
see if we can get a leopard seal some

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biologist in, because I think it's a
really interesting topic to look at

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how these leopard seals really do well.

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How do they actually hunt?

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Are they being predated on by orcas
now that ice melts and maybe there

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won't be as many penguins left?

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Are they competing with
orcas to get penguins?

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It's gonna be really interesting
to see how these seals are working.

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But the interesting part is though,
because they have so many different

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types of strategies, leopard
seals aren't just brutal predators.

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They're actually strategic ones.

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And that changes how we think
about Antarctic ecosystems because

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now we have two predators that
are very, very good at hunting.

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And we have these penguins
that are sitting there,

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literally sitting penguins.

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I'm not gonna say sitting ducks.

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That's too much of a pun.

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But literally sitting penguins.

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And with the ice receding, they have
less area to use and they have less

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area to hide, to get away from.

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It's gonna be interesting to
see these penguins, which we'll

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talk about in the next episode.

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So I'd love to hear your
questions or comments.

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I'd love to hear 'em.

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If you go to speak up for
blue.com/feedback, I'd love

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to hear what you think.

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You can leave me a voicemail,
you can leave me a message.

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I would love to hear what your
thoughts are on Leopard Seals.

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Do you know someone who is a scientist
or a biologist of leopard seals?

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I would love to hear from them
and get in touch with them.

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So reach out to me, speak
up for blue.com/feedback.

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And if you're on Spotify, you can leave
a comment on that platform 'cause it's

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great to have that comment section 'cause
that's gives us feedback right away.

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We'd love to hear from you because
this is the start of a conversation.

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I want you guys to continue it and
I want you to follow this podcast

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to stay ahead of Ocean science
stories that actually matter.

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So thank you so much for joining
me on today's episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

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I'm your host Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time
and happy conservation.