---
title: "What the sources say about the Leopard Seal | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "40 claims from the Leopard Seal profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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---

# What the sources say about the Leopard Seal (*Hydrurga leptonyx*)

> 40 claims from the Leopard Seal profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Leopard Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/leopard-seal/)

## Leopard seal. Australian Antarctic Division.

http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/wildlife/animals/seals-and-sea-lions/leopard-seals

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| has a slender body, long fore-flippers and a large head | the body is slender and the fore-flippers long. The head is large |
| Its jaws open wide to show exceptionally long canines and sharp, complex molars | the jaws open widely revealing exceptionally long canines and unusually complex sharply pointed molars |
| Large females may exceed 3.5 meters in length and weigh over 500 kilograms. | Large females may reach lengths in excess of 3.5 m and weigh over 500 kg. |
| Leopard seals may live for 26 years or more. | Leopard seals may live for 26 years or more. |
| the same trick crabeater seals use | Like the crabeater seals, leopard seals have unusual teeth for straining krill from the water. |
| They also eat fish, squid and the pups of other seals, including crabeater, Weddell and southern fur seals. | including penguins, fish, squid, and crustaceans... They also eat the pups of other seal species including crabeater, Weddell and southern fur seals. |
| Leopard seals live around the pack ice that rings Antarctica, but they may be the greatest wanderers of any Antarctic seal | Leopard seals are solitary animals that inhabit pack-ice surrounding the Antarctic continent. They are perhaps the greatest wanderers of the Antarctic seals |
| in Tasmania, and even as far north as the Great Barrier Reef's Heron Island | with sightings in Tasmania and a northern record at Heron Island. Heron Island is a subtropical island in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef |
| The Australian Antarctic Division names the killer whale as the leopard seal's only natural predator. | The only natural predator of leopard seals is the killer whale. |
| Most live in the pack ice around the Antarctic continent, but there have been sightings in Tasmania and a northern record at Heron Island, a subtropical island in the southern Great Barrier Reef. | inhabit pack-ice surrounding the Antarctic continent. They are perhaps the greatest wanderers of the Antarctic seals with sightings in Tasmania and a northern record at Heron Island. Heron Island is a subtropical island in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef (note: 'Most' matches doc-nz-leopard-seal: 'Found in: Mostly in Antarctica, but small numbers can be found in NZ year-round') |
| Antarctic pack ice, with wandering individuals reaching subantarctic islands, Tasmania and New Zealand | They are perhaps the greatest wanderers of the Antarctic seals with sightings in Tasmania (note: habitat line aggregates the range claims already quoted above (subantarctic islands: adw-leopard-seal; New Zealand: doc-nz-leopard-seal)) |
| Krill, penguins, fish, squid, and the pups of other seals | Leopard seals eat almost anything, including penguins, fish, squid, and crustaceans. Like the crabeater seals, leopard seals have unusual teeth for straining krill from the water. They also eat the pups of other seal species (note: a list of prey, not a claim of completeness; the source's 'almost anything' is why the list is not closed with 'only') |
| teeth that double as krill sieves | leopard seals have unusual teeth for straining krill from the water (note: 'double as' because the same seal also eats penguins, fish, squid and seal pups (claims above)) |
| weightKg: 370 | Males (2.8 m; 320 kg) are generally slightly smaller than females (3.0 m; 370 kg). (note: Heavy class either way: Kienle et al. 2022 measured 302 (males) to 454 kg (females).) |
| tags: antarctic | Leopard seals are solitary animals that inhabit pack-ice surrounding the Antarctic continent. |

## Leopard seal. New Zealand Department of Conservation.

https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/marine-mammals/seals/leopard-seal/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| New Zealand's Department of Conservation says the big head, massive jaws and tremendous gape give it a snake-like appearance. | The leopard seal's disproportionately large head, massive jaws, impressive teeth and tremendous gape give it a snake-like appearance. |
| leopard seals frequent ice floes and waters next to Adélie penguin colonies, catching penguins after underwater chases or as the birds fall back into the water after missing their footing on the ice | Leopard seals frequent ice-floes and waters adjacent to Adelie penguin rookeries and are adept at catching penguins after underwater pursuits or as they fall back into the water after missing their footing on the ice. |
| The seal grips a penguin's skin with its incisor teeth and shakes the bird until the skin tears away. | Penguins are skinned by the seal gripping the skin with its incisor teeth and shaking the bird until the skin tears away. |
| Some individuals have been known to spend a year or more at a stretch in New Zealand waters. | Some animals have been known to spend a year or more continuously in New Zealand waters. |
| Attacks on people are rare, but one, on a researcher snorkelling in Antarctic waters, was fatal. | Although rare, there are a few records of adult leopard seals attacking humans. There has also been one fatality, when a researcher was snorkelling in Antarctic waters and was killed by a leopard seal. |
| New Zealand's Department of Conservation knows of a few attacks on people by adult leopard seals, and of one death: a researcher killed while snorkelling in Antarctic waters. | Although rare, there are a few records of adult leopard seals attacking humans. There has also been one fatality, when a researcher was snorkelling in Antarctic waters and was killed by a leopard seal. |
| incisors that grip a penguin by the skin | Penguins are skinned by the seal gripping the skin with its incisor teeth |
| Cold, mechanical brutality, for a seal that grips a penguin's skin with its incisors and shakes the bird until the skin tears away. | Penguins are skinned by the seal gripping the skin with its incisor teeth and shaking the bird until the skin tears away. |
| dangerLevel: Deadly | There has also been one fatality, when a researcher was snorkelling in Antarctic waters and was killed by a leopard seal. |

## Hydrurga leptonyx (leopard seal). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hydrurga_leptonyx/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| They use their lobodont teeth to filter krill out of the water | using their lobodont teeth to filter these small crustaceans from the water |
| Sightings turn up on subantarctic islands | small numbers can be found just beyond the pack ice on the nearby subantarctic islands year-round |
| They're the teeth a leopard seal uses to filter krill, small crustaceans, out of the water. | Leopard seals feed primarily on krill, using their lobodont teeth to filter these small crustaceans from the water. |
| The same seal also hunts penguins, young crabeater seals and squid. | leopard seals are also aggressive apex predators eating penguins, young crabeater seals, and squid |
| Lobodont teeth that filter krill | using their lobodont teeth to filter these small crustaceans from the water |

## Hiruki, Schwartz & Boveng (1999). Hunting and social behaviour of leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) at Seal Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Journal of Zoology.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1999.tb01063.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| just one or two seals a year were responsible for an average of 60 percent of the observed fur seal pup captures, with hunting style and success varying seal to seal | individuals showed different hunting styles and hunting success. One to two leopard seals per year were responsible for an average of 60% of observed captures of fur seal pups. |

## Kienle et al. (2022). Plasticity in the morphometrics and movements of an Antarctic apex predator, the leopard seal. Frontiers in Marine Science.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.976019

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Among 22 leopard seals tagged off the Western Antarctic Peninsula, adult females averaged 454 kilograms and adult males 302 kilograms. | Satellite/GPS tags and time-depth recorders were deployed on 22 leopard seals off the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Adult female leopard seals were significantly larger (454±59 kg) and longer (302±11 cm) than adult males (302±22 kg, 276±11 cm). (note: means of the tagged adults, rounded from 454±59 kg and 302±22 kg) |
| With females 50 percent larger than males, leopard seals are one of the most extreme cases among marine mammals of females outsizing males. | As females were 50% larger than their male counterparts, leopard seals are therefore one of the most extreme examples of female-biased sexual size dimorphism in marine mammals. |
| Leopard seals are generalist predators. | Leopard seals are generalist predators, consuming a wide range of prey that includes krill, fish, cephalopods, seabirds, and even other pinnipeds |
| a 2022 study describes them as both krill predators and apex predators | As both krill predators and apex predators (note: 2022 is the study's publication year (Kienle et al. 2022, the cited reference)) |
| A 2022 tagging study off the Western Antarctic Peninsula recorded one leopard seal diving to 1,256 meters for 25 minutes | Four of our study seals exceeded that previous record, with one leopard seal diving to 1,256 meters. On the 1,256 m dive, this seal also had the longest reported dive duration of 25 minutes (note: 2022 is the publication year of the cited study; the tagging was off the Western Antarctic Peninsula per the abstract: 'deployed on 22 leopard seals off the Western Antarctic Peninsula') |
| before it, the deepest known leopard seal dive was 425 meters | Previously, the deepest dive for a leopard seal was 425 m (note: 'before it' paraphrases the source's 'Previously') |
| seals tagged off the Western Antarctic Peninsula averaged dives of about 3 minutes to 29 meters | Overall, leopard seals were short (3.0±0.7 min) and shallow (29±8 m) divers. |
| One of them, though, went to 1,256 meters and stayed under for 25 minutes, the deepest and longest dive that study's authors knew of for the species. | Our study dramatically increases the maximum dive depth and duration reported for the species. Previously, the deepest dive for a leopard seal was 425 m ( Kuhn et al., 2006 ). Four of our study seals exceeded that previous record, with one leopard seal diving to 1,256 meters. On the 1,256 m dive, this seal also had the longest reported dive duration of 25 minutes |
| apex hunter of Antarctic pack ice with a reptilian gape | leopard seals, an ice-associated apex predator (note: 'reptilian gape' paraphrases doc-nz-leopard-seal: 'tremendous gape give it a snake-like appearance'; 'krill sieves' is claim 9 (lobodont teeth filter krill)) |

## Borras-Chavez & Hückstädt (2026). Hydrurga leptonyx. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2026: e.T10340A95969074.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2026-1.rlts.t10340a95969074.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |