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What You Think About Leopard Seals Is Probably Wrong · How To Protect The Ocean

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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.