What You Think About Leopard Seals Is Probably Wrong

0:00 Leopard seals might be smarter hunters than we actually thought. Leopard seals have always had a reputation. Aggressive, solitary, and unpredictable. But what if they're also strategic? Because new research shows that they may be far more calculated than we have ever given them credit for. Leopard Seals sit near the top of the Antarctic food web. They eat penguins, they eat fish, and they eat other seals, but they're actually understudied compared to orcas, which we talked about yesterday. The media attention that leopard seals get. A lot of times you'll see them in cartoons. A lot of times you'll see them in movies where they are trying to hunt humans or they're trying to be aggressive against humans.

0:41 Because they are a solitary animal, they do get a little protective and they can get aggressive towards divers who are in the water and have a camera on them. They've never really seen anybody get hurt by them. I don't know if there've been any reports, but we don't really see a lot of behavioral studies. We don't really see a lot of videos where you're actually learning about these leopard seals. You see them as enemies of the penguin. You don't see them being hunted by orcas. You don't really see them mating. You don't really see 'em rearing their young. It's a really interesting conundrum that you have here with an animal that is not exactly studied very well, and probably a lot of people have some bad or myths about them, thinking that they're only aggressive and they're not very good.

1:21 But people do study them. In recent tagging and drone studies have shown that they use ambush strategies near ice edges. They have energy efficient hunting patterns. They have a repeated use of successful hunting zones. You see all of these behaviors. They're very interesting behaviors and a lot of times, like you can almost compare them to big cats on land. I know they're called leopard seals ' cause they've got the spots. But they use a lot of the same tactics. Ambush strategies. They have to be energy efficient because if they're not, you know, there's not as if there's a lot of food that's found them for them around there, just like in the African Savannah for a lot of the big cats. And of course, if you know of a hunting zone that is very popular, you'll repeat that hunting zone as a tactic.

2:02 So I think that's a really interesting tactic for these animals. Now it's interesting that new findings have suggested that some leopard seals specialize more than others. So individuals so consistent behavior patterns. I think that's really interesting. This is not just random predation. This is an animal that is very interesting in the fact that it will hunt in different ways, and the more efficient it can get, the better it is. So do better hunters actually shape the ecosystems more. I mean, we talked yesterday about how orcas learn and they have patterns and they work together and they become better hunters. And then when climate change rears its ugly head and you see melting of ice, we're seeing that orcas are actually thriving in these conditions.

2:47 And of course, their prey species, leopard seals, other seals as well as penguins also feel the burden of this type of work. And so putting animal personality research in there when you look at hunting, it's very interesting 'cause some individuals will be better than others. And it's just because they take more chances that could be good or that could be bad. They are willing to try new things. And so that will make their hunting better in most places, depending on the risk, of course, of what's around. So that's something to think about when we start thinking about how a hunter gets smarter how a hunter can do really, really well in these types of conditions. Now, of course, now you have climate pressure that's hitting it just like it does for orcas.

3:31 And as ice changes, hunting grounds will shift. Penguin access also changes and competition may increase. So leopard seals may have to adapt pretty fast. Just like polar bears in the Arctic. Polar bears are losing ice flows and they need ice flows 'cause they are a Marine mammal even though people may not know that. Polar bears are in the water more than 60% of the time, which makes them Marine mammals. And so when the ice melts and they need to rest from swimming, 'cause they do need to rest and they need to hunt from that point of view, get the seals and grab them and bring them up. If you've ever seen polar bears at a zoo. You know, one of the interesting things, they'll have these barrels that are kind of open, and those barrels are, and they're put in the water.

4:12 They're supposed to mimic seals being in the water as a bear goes down with this big claws, grabs it with its nails and punctures the seal and brings it up onto the ice. That's what those barrels mimic, by the way. That's what they're supposed to mimic, And so it gets that behavior trains them to be that, to use that behavior. So I think that's kind of interesting, but ice really matters for these polar bears. And if you are losing ice due to climate change, a lot of these bears are having to swim longer. They're drowning because of it 'cause they can't keep up. And so now they're being more on land, so they've had to change their way. And a lot of that has become because of their death. So there are winners and losers. Orcas do well when ice recedes, but also leopard seals, we're not sure how they're gonna do.

4:53 We're not sure if they're gonna put more pressure on penguins or if they're gonna put less pressure on penguins. And the thing is, is in a unknown role, in an ecosystem with an animal that's not really studied, we just don't fully understand how much pressure they put on penguins and how they compete with orcas. That's a really interesting thing is like, are they dangerous to orcas? Do they fight against orcas? I really don't know to be honest. I don't know much about these leopard seals. Over the weeks we'll probably try and see if we can get a leopard seal some biologist in, because I think it's a really interesting topic to look at how these leopard seals really do well. How do they actually hunt? Are they being predated on by orcas now that ice melts and maybe there won't be as many penguins left?

5:35 Are they competing with orcas to get penguins? It's gonna be really interesting to see how these seals are working. But the interesting part is though, because they have so many different types of strategies, leopard seals aren't just brutal predators. They're actually strategic ones. And that changes how we think about Antarctic ecosystems because now we have two predators that are very, very good at hunting. And we have these penguins that are sitting there, literally sitting penguins. I'm not gonna say sitting ducks. That's too much of a pun. But literally sitting penguins. And with the ice receding, they have less area to use and they have less area to hide, to get away from. It's gonna be interesting to see these penguins, which we'll talk about in the next episode.

6:18 So I'd love to hear your questions or comments. I'd love to hear 'em. If you go to speak up for blue.com/feedback, I'd love to hear what you think. You can leave me a voicemail, you can leave me a message. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on Leopard Seals. Do you know someone who is a scientist or a biologist of leopard seals? I would love to hear from them and get in touch with them. So reach out to me, speak up for blue.com/feedback. And if you're on Spotify, you can leave a comment on that platform 'cause it's great to have that comment section 'cause that's gives us feedback right away. We'd love to hear from you because this is the start of a conversation. I want you guys to continue it and I want you to follow this podcast to stay ahead of Ocean science stories that actually matter. So thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast.

6:59 I'm your host Andrew Lewin. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.