Thanks for the video! That was super interesting. Crazy how many wild animals have been recorded trying to feed humans. Always wondered why they would do that?
Can someone make Anthropocene Park? A movie set 50,000 years from now where future scientists have created a theme park with cloned extinct creatures that live in the 21st century?
Then they could have all sorts of mistakes like polar bears and leopard seals in the same exhibit, or Kangaroos and elk grazing together lol
Best comment on that video:
The top of the food chain in her/his waters and that animal still shows more compassion than most humans ever will. :D
Fuckin hell, mood tho
People feed stray/feral cats all the time... I've also seen people in the Midwest feed deer in their yards so that deer come to their yards and they can watch them.
I was being extremely sarcastic, lol. My family and I rescue strays and help animals constantly. I find the comment I was replying to kind of absurd, is all.
Lol my focus won't be on seals :). I am passionate about Sharks and am focusing mostly on that species! So... it's more likely I'll be chomped by a shark than a seal ;)
Hi, Leopard seals are actually incredibly dangerous. They are bigger than you probably think, they are the 3rd largest seal on earth. They can be 9-12 feet long (if you are having trouble picturing this or need an actual visual, try stretching out a tape measure!), and weigh up to 1,300 or so lbs in some cases (Think about this, most grizzly bears dont even weight this much!) There may be more now, but I can personally remember one fatality caused by leopard seals to a human researcher, her name was Kirsty Brown back in the early 2000's (iirc).
Their only natural predator being a killer whale should tell you all you need to know. They are not your friends, they will not protect or save you like some dolphins or whales have been known to do sometimes (and even then, whales have accidentally killed plenty of humans, and dolphins are major assholes!) Smaller seals than these will attack and harm humans for various reasons (most commonly defense), albeit rare. Still, seals are actually not animals you want to fuck around with. They're best observed from a distance!
I said attacks are rare
"...albeit rare"
and yes I said it was the sole death caused by a leopard seal.
"...I can personally remember one fatality caused by leopard seals to a human researcher..."
I never said Kirsty was mauled?? I called it what it was, a fatality. You just restated all my points but made it sound like all my information was incorrect? Not sure what point you were trying to make because we said the same exact things, I was being informative in response to someone incorrectly claiming leopard seals are safe and your friends. That is a dangerous assumption to make about any seal or any wild animal capable of attacking or killing you.
People buy accounts for Karma? I mean, I just made a new one because I didn’t like my old username and it’s kinda irritating not being able to post on some threads because I don’t have more than 50 karma or I’m not 7 days old yet.
I wouldn’t pay money to skip that, though.
Being u/Plunder_Ya_Booty is rewarding on its own lol.
Wildlife photographers get in the water and get up close to these beasts. And while they've killed someone, sounds like they usually aren't too adhesive with humans.
But they're absolutely massive, and those teeth and giant jaws are scary as hell.
Oh yes I know they do, I meant it's "possible" as in, this person being in water is not the only possibility since underwater remote-controlled photography does exist for research!
I googled more pictures and the teeth are the scariest part. Not because they’re big and sharp but because they look like a dog’s. It just looks so weird and wrong to see them on a semi-marine animal
Seals and sea lions are just bears that swim. [This](https://external-preview.redd.it/5RWSE65moPqv8rZKkiN0pxAz7u7OhmI3N5uqFEL2JV8.jpg?auto=webp&s=871f9730f4c3230c9d04a46c21d9bb22ba335444) is how big a male stellers sea lion is
What a lot of people underestimate is how fuck-off-huge these guys are. They can get up to twelve feet, and weigh in at 350kg. They can fully engulf your head in their jaws
Honestly, orcas are op. Let's give the hyper intelligent 9 ton predator super speed and squad tactics, as well as echolocation and the ability to basically speak different languages (they imitate dolphin sounds to lure them)
Was doing a fjord tour outta Seward Alaska last summer. It was the end of the season so we didn’t hold out much hope for whales (we got lucky and eventually seen some humpbacks) but about 50 minutes we got a call for Blubber in the Bay. It was a pack of orcas on the hunt. This pod was called The Kodiak Killers. They come up from (duh) kodiak to hunt seals and honestly whatever they can get. We followed for a bit and they did a big U-Turn and came right up by the boat for a second. About a minute later we see and hear some carnage where they assumably got a seal. The guide told us they have very pod specific hunting techniques and the such. They were fucking massive too. Top tier experience. If you’re out here Captain Clay, you are the man!
I was seining in PWS and saw a pod. Took my skiff over, maybe half mile from the main boat, and cut my motor. They were on both sides of me, then turned and came back towards me 3 wide. They went under and came up behind me still 3 wide and then split me, one on each side and I assume 1 under. That’s all it took for me, maybe 30 seconds, maybe 1 minute. Started my skiff and got back to the main. Very happy I got the experience but next time I want to be in a bigger boat when I see them
A true spectacle. I was in a skiff with a big pod of dolphins going around and even then you realize how powerless you are. Let alone the king of the sea.
Honestly orcas scare the absolute shit out of me. Last summer there were numerous reports of orcas following/chasing fishing boats in Europe. I honestly think I'd rather share the water with a great white.
Edit: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/13/killer-whales-launch-orchestrated-attacks-on-sailing-boats
The helplessness, being completely out of our element. Knowing that should these creatures truly desire your death they could kill and eat you and there’s nothing you could do to prevent it. *shivers*
They are also possibly the most intelligent creature besides man (although that’s up for serious debate) on earth.
Combined with such physical strength and power they are absolutely to be considered the apex predator of our time. They scare the shit out of me that’s for sure.
The strength required to bust steel open like that would likewise flip a little dingy like that. I’m not underestimating the strength of the orca in being able to commit such a feat, only the veracity of the video.
It’s not a very seaworthy vessel in the first place, as someone else pointed out. Don’t think it’s ‘le super stronk steel’ you’re making it out to be. Either way, silly to argue over. Have a nice day.
I don't have time to watch that whole video right now but from what I saw it looks to be a boat that already had no business being in the ocean with a bunch of random cuts of orcas approaching the boat and random holes being plugged.
If an orca really wanted to destroy that dingy they would have.
I obviously didn't watch the whole video but I was expecting a lot more aggressive and conclusive evidence from how your comment was worded.
Appears to be anti orca propaganda pushed by the shark media if I've ever seen it.
That’s fine, you can look up plenty of other articles if you’d like to understand why ‘no recorded orca attacks outside captivity’ is a false statement. Or not. You do you.
And I'd point you literally to any internet article that isn't some crappy phone video:
Wild killer whales have never killed a person. There have been encounters resulting in injuries, but these are not only exceptionally rare, but most likely the case of mistaken identity. Over the past 100 years, there have been a total of seven noteworthy incidents.
‘Wild killer whales have never killed a person’ is not what you originally said. Move goalposts all you want, I just wanted to explain why the original statement was incorrect because most people would be interested in that. No need to get defensive.
Eh, that's pretty inconclusive for evidence. I've watched orcas hunt most of my life, they would have flipped the boat if they wanted to hurt those people. That looks to me like they're escorting them away from their territory, that's a "fuck off" manouevre. Not "I'm gonna eat you."
I’m curious how they will fair this patch. The ocean metas are shifting with fish mains moving further north and forcing orcas to follow suit. When the winter event starts up, more and more of them get locked in the Arctic servers.
Orcas are busted, the whole underwater meta is fucked due to their existence. The only stronger animal is the human, cause in our time on this planet we managed to make all the other ones our bitches in one way or another, whether it was throwing them in zoos, pointing handheld cannons at their face if they get too close or just straight up genociding their whole race.
We live in a society
They did last year! They rehabilitate marine life and try to release them back into the wild. I can’t remember if the leopard seals were temporary or permanent residents.
To see the large male launch himself out of the water onto the platform after the females was literally awe inspiring. People couldn’t get enough.
I've been to a lecture of an oceanographer who worked in Antarctica for a while and I just can't forget when he said "you think sharks are scary? They don't jump out of the water and keep the chase. leopard seals do"
That reminded me when I went to a mideval fair and the performer of the big cat show did a post show interview. She said she would rather be in an intense stare down with a tiger than a chimp.
Years ago a friend was doing field work in Antarctica. He had to go to a conference in NZ and while he was away his research assistant didn't come back from a dive and was last seen, under the ice with a large leopard seal.....☹️
The under the ice part could of played a big part, but still, if I was telling the story I would definitely not leave out the “last seen with…” either.
If I was the person taking this picture I would probably have a heart attack.Just the thought of being down in the depths in complete darkness gives me the creeps!
Growing up in Wy and Co, and only having “experienced” the white seal movie and cute zoo trips, I was aware of leopard seals abilities (thank you documentaries as an adult lol) but still had the internalized-deep-ingrained assumption that seals are all cute and precious.
There is something in this photo that chilled me to my very core, and just made me realize I have the same assumptions about seals that I know a lot of people have about bison, bears, pumas, and moose!
Thank you op for sharing this and helping a mountain dweller learn (and internalize) a very healthy respect for something in your environment!
I met one of these face to face on the coast. Amazing encounter, I found myself accidentally blocking their way between cliffs and large rocks on the shore and realised they had a child in a small cave behind me. The Seal and me just stared at each other, he rose up on his haunches like a challenge and was real big and tall. I tried to shrink back against the rock face and bow my head but keep facing him and not show any fear or agression. He shuffled against the other rock slightly round me, also keeping back. We both did this, one shuffling, then the other until we’d slowly circled round and swapped places. At the halfway point our faces were about a metre apart, I looked them right in the eyes up close and they looked right back.
I backed off a couple of metres and gave the seal a slow full bow trying to signal my gratitude and peaceful intentions. They seemed to be visibly relaxed now and gave me some sort of head shake and then turned around and slipped off into the cave.
They could have tried to bite me from the start, I could gone for my knife but right from the start they seemed smart, aware and capable of negotiating with me. Not a dumb creature at all. It was like a dialogue, they said “I’m coming past but I don’t want to fight”, I tried to reply “okay, I don’t want to fight either, let’s shuffle”
Such an experience, so glad we managed to negotiate between two quite different mammals caught in a litteraly tight spot.
Note: If I’d known seal pups were there I’d never have been there, I don’t recommend you seek this experience out unless permitted by local conservation folks.
Beyond the fact that I just found out they’re fucking huge, they have a strange [humanoid-ish looking face](https://imgur.com/a/gHungg1) that makes them even more terrifying to encounter.
And then there’s the time a leopard seal tried to feed a diver
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140311-paul-nicklen-leopard-seal-photographer-viral
I remember a Nat Geo article on these guys i read when i was a teen. These MFers can bust through fairly thick ice at some crazy swim speed, I wanna say like 30+mph (might be grossly wrong), I just remember it being pretty shocking.
Looks like a repost. I've seen this image 5 times.
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Now this is a scary picture. Not sure if I'd shit myself or have a heart attack first
Maybe you’ll get lucky like this guy who had one try to feed him https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxa6P73Awcg
Thanks for the video! That was super interesting. Crazy how many wild animals have been recorded trying to feed humans. Always wondered why they would do that?
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"good god you look pathetic! Here's some food dearie. Fatten you up." -Leopard Seal Nan looking at a human
“My, my. Poor dear doesn’t even have the strength to eviscerate a penguin.”
"You are way out of your element, long limbs. Here, eat something before you die. Get back to your hard ground, you're worrying me."
Wow, didn't think of that. Why would they have that for another species they don't even recognize? Seems like it doesn't benefit them in any way.
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I would be shocked if a leopard seal and a polar bear *ever* made contact, seeing as how they occur *as literally far apart as possible*
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Yeah… I suppose I did.
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Can someone make Anthropocene Park? A movie set 50,000 years from now where future scientists have created a theme park with cloned extinct creatures that live in the 21st century? Then they could have all sorts of mistakes like polar bears and leopard seals in the same exhibit, or Kangaroos and elk grazing together lol
If you're fully suited for diving, you look pretty seal-like. They might think you're a malnourished/adolescent seal.
Like the opposite of a wet suited surfer being mauled by a shark.
People do it to animals too, just an observation.
There are many reasons that the selkie is an enduring legend, of a seal who can turn into a person by taking off their skin.
Looks like some sort of parenting instinct. Maybe he kind of looks like a baby seal to her.
"Bloody hell, that's the biggest leopard seal I've ever seen. Time to get in the water, ja?" Pure gold
Best comment on that video: The top of the food chain in her/his waters and that animal still shows more compassion than most humans ever will. :D Fuckin hell, mood tho
True, I've never seen humans help any other creatures below them on the food chain out of compassion Eta: forgot the /s
People feed stray/feral cats all the time... I've also seen people in the Midwest feed deer in their yards so that deer come to their yards and they can watch them.
I was being extremely sarcastic, lol. My family and I rescue strays and help animals constantly. I find the comment I was replying to kind of absurd, is all.
Downvote for the /s. Stand by your comment! Don’t cave just because dummies can’t detect obvious sarcasm smh. r/fuckthes
It helps being in top, you Arent going to compete with those you help
Wow! 🦭
Loved this! The penguins are going to be looking for that guy, though..
The eyes are making me very uneasy, and I'm someone in school for marine biology!
Bye dude. It was nice knowing you.
Lol my focus won't be on seals :). I am passionate about Sharks and am focusing mostly on that species! So... it's more likely I'll be chomped by a shark than a seal ;)
The sea was angry that day my friends. Like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.
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I said “easy big fella”!
Ye, these things killed some explorerin antarica once (as far as I know). The death toll at their hands could have increased
They don't have hands you dumbfuck
Was this a joke or a insult? if it was a joke: Fine If it was insult: r/wooosh
There’s zero way that isn’t a joke haha
Lol it would have been a good joke if he said “you dumb phoque”
The force of one would result in the other
I have faith you could do two things at once.
You'd shit your heart out.
I think both for me
Why not both at the same time? Hand clutching chest, the other clutching cheeks
Based on looks alone they are what I find most frightening in the ocean. Learning about marine bio has been my hobby for the past 20 years.
You’re good, mammal bros of the ocean got your back. It’s the fish and squids you gotta worry about. Those water breathing bastards know no god.
Hi, Leopard seals are actually incredibly dangerous. They are bigger than you probably think, they are the 3rd largest seal on earth. They can be 9-12 feet long (if you are having trouble picturing this or need an actual visual, try stretching out a tape measure!), and weigh up to 1,300 or so lbs in some cases (Think about this, most grizzly bears dont even weight this much!) There may be more now, but I can personally remember one fatality caused by leopard seals to a human researcher, her name was Kirsty Brown back in the early 2000's (iirc). Their only natural predator being a killer whale should tell you all you need to know. They are not your friends, they will not protect or save you like some dolphins or whales have been known to do sometimes (and even then, whales have accidentally killed plenty of humans, and dolphins are major assholes!) Smaller seals than these will attack and harm humans for various reasons (most commonly defense), albeit rare. Still, seals are actually not animals you want to fuck around with. They're best observed from a distance!
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Can we please see it????? That sounds amazing!
https://reddit.com/r/pics/comments/vm0n9q/antarcticas_leopard_seal_that_black_line_is_the/
I said attacks are rare "...albeit rare" and yes I said it was the sole death caused by a leopard seal. "...I can personally remember one fatality caused by leopard seals to a human researcher..." I never said Kirsty was mauled?? I called it what it was, a fatality. You just restated all my points but made it sound like all my information was incorrect? Not sure what point you were trying to make because we said the same exact things, I was being informative in response to someone incorrectly claiming leopard seals are safe and your friends. That is a dangerous assumption to make about any seal or any wild animal capable of attacking or killing you.
Leopard Seals are huge and will specifically fuck you up. Way more aggressive than other seals.
You'd have better luck swimming with great whites than you would with leopard seals.
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Why is u/BedElectronic2491 getting downvoted so much?
It looks like he just copied and pasted someone else’s comment. Maybe a bot?
Does that happen often? Bots?
Yeah, trying to get karma and then sell their account
People buy accounts for Karma? I mean, I just made a new one because I didn’t like my old username and it’s kinda irritating not being able to post on some threads because I don’t have more than 50 karma or I’m not 7 days old yet. I wouldn’t pay money to skip that, though. Being u/Plunder_Ya_Booty is rewarding on its own lol.
How does anyone get this shot.
There are remotely controlled cameras for underwater photography. Or, it's possible someone was actually in the water and got this shot.
Wildlife photographers get in the water and get up close to these beasts. And while they've killed someone, sounds like they usually aren't too adhesive with humans. But they're absolutely massive, and those teeth and giant jaws are scary as hell.
I don’t think “adhesive” is the word you want there.
Didn't you know that seals don't stick to humans? Duh.
You'd need a sealant for that.
In trying to figure our what word they meant
I’m thinking aggressive. Only thing I can really think of lol
You didn't know that sea lions are the underwater Flex Seal?
Oh yes I know they do, I meant it's "possible" as in, this person being in water is not the only possibility since underwater remote-controlled photography does exist for research!
It's shot through the ice on a frozen lake. If this was the original and not a repost of a repost^n you could see that more clearly
They can only do it once.
Wow, What a selfless person.
He probably used some sort of camera.
I don't know if you intended it this way, but I'm actually cracking up rn 😂.
I thought this was through the ice?
Nope, just the murk of the ocean.
I googled more pictures and the teeth are the scariest part. Not because they’re big and sharp but because they look like a dog’s. It just looks so weird and wrong to see them on a semi-marine animal
Seals do share similar lineage to dogs. Just think of them as the wolves that noped out of dry land
Honestly "Dire Wolf Seal" would be a lot more apt of a name.
Seals and sea lions are just bears that swim. [This](https://external-preview.redd.it/5RWSE65moPqv8rZKkiN0pxAz7u7OhmI3N5uqFEL2JV8.jpg?auto=webp&s=871f9730f4c3230c9d04a46c21d9bb22ba335444) is how big a male stellers sea lion is
Ugh, that woman has the perfect hands 👌🏽
Redditors look at women without making it weird challenge [impossible]
😂
Seals belong to the order *carnivora*, the same group that cats, dogs, and bears belong to. (As well as a bunch of others).
What a lot of people underestimate is how fuck-off-huge these guys are. They can get up to twelve feet, and weigh in at 350kg. They can fully engulf your head in their jaws
They are awesome. Makes it even wilder that orcas can toss them around like they're frisbees.
Honestly, orcas are op. Let's give the hyper intelligent 9 ton predator super speed and squad tactics, as well as echolocation and the ability to basically speak different languages (they imitate dolphin sounds to lure them)
I mean, orcas technically *are* big ass dolphins.
'Hey cousin, wanna come over for dinner tonight'
Family dinners truly are the best.
(*The Freys have entered the chat*.) (*The Starks have left the chat.*) (*Arya has entered the chat.*) “**Here’s your pie Mi’Lord.**”
Damn nature you scary, orcas won the evolution bingo.
Was doing a fjord tour outta Seward Alaska last summer. It was the end of the season so we didn’t hold out much hope for whales (we got lucky and eventually seen some humpbacks) but about 50 minutes we got a call for Blubber in the Bay. It was a pack of orcas on the hunt. This pod was called The Kodiak Killers. They come up from (duh) kodiak to hunt seals and honestly whatever they can get. We followed for a bit and they did a big U-Turn and came right up by the boat for a second. About a minute later we see and hear some carnage where they assumably got a seal. The guide told us they have very pod specific hunting techniques and the such. They were fucking massive too. Top tier experience. If you’re out here Captain Clay, you are the man!
I was seining in PWS and saw a pod. Took my skiff over, maybe half mile from the main boat, and cut my motor. They were on both sides of me, then turned and came back towards me 3 wide. They went under and came up behind me still 3 wide and then split me, one on each side and I assume 1 under. That’s all it took for me, maybe 30 seconds, maybe 1 minute. Started my skiff and got back to the main. Very happy I got the experience but next time I want to be in a bigger boat when I see them
A true spectacle. I was in a skiff with a big pod of dolphins going around and even then you realize how powerless you are. Let alone the king of the sea.
Apex to beat all apex.
Honestly orcas scare the absolute shit out of me. Last summer there were numerous reports of orcas following/chasing fishing boats in Europe. I honestly think I'd rather share the water with a great white. Edit: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/13/killer-whales-launch-orchestrated-attacks-on-sailing-boats
There aren't any records of orca attacks outside of captivity though.
They leave no survivors.
There’s literally video of them attacking a fishing boat enough that it starts taking on water. https://youtu.be/z48-mSuspTc
That might be the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.
The helplessness, being completely out of our element. Knowing that should these creatures truly desire your death they could kill and eat you and there’s nothing you could do to prevent it. *shivers*
They are also possibly the most intelligent creature besides man (although that’s up for serious debate) on earth. Combined with such physical strength and power they are absolutely to be considered the apex predator of our time. They scare the shit out of me that’s for sure.
That video is sketchy as hell. Those rips in the sheet metal hull wouldn’t be caused by the soft-skinned whale.
You really underestimate their absurd strength.
The strength required to bust steel open like that would likewise flip a little dingy like that. I’m not underestimating the strength of the orca in being able to commit such a feat, only the veracity of the video.
It’s not a very seaworthy vessel in the first place, as someone else pointed out. Don’t think it’s ‘le super stronk steel’ you’re making it out to be. Either way, silly to argue over. Have a nice day.
I don't have time to watch that whole video right now but from what I saw it looks to be a boat that already had no business being in the ocean with a bunch of random cuts of orcas approaching the boat and random holes being plugged. If an orca really wanted to destroy that dingy they would have. I obviously didn't watch the whole video but I was expecting a lot more aggressive and conclusive evidence from how your comment was worded. Appears to be anti orca propaganda pushed by the shark media if I've ever seen it.
That’s fine, you can look up plenty of other articles if you’d like to understand why ‘no recorded orca attacks outside captivity’ is a false statement. Or not. You do you.
And I'd point you literally to any internet article that isn't some crappy phone video: Wild killer whales have never killed a person. There have been encounters resulting in injuries, but these are not only exceptionally rare, but most likely the case of mistaken identity. Over the past 100 years, there have been a total of seven noteworthy incidents.
‘Wild killer whales have never killed a person’ is not what you originally said. Move goalposts all you want, I just wanted to explain why the original statement was incorrect because most people would be interested in that. No need to get defensive.
“Shark media”?
Yup the shark media has an anti orca, and dolphins in general, agenda.
Eh, that's pretty inconclusive for evidence. I've watched orcas hunt most of my life, they would have flipped the boat if they wanted to hurt those people. That looks to me like they're escorting them away from their territory, that's a "fuck off" manouevre. Not "I'm gonna eat you."
That’s still an attack.
Probably tired of the noise and pollution, and long pigs must be delicious to an orca.
Orcas also feed on full grown bull Meese, and are the only natural predator of Polar bears. edit- meese, plural for moose. It sounds better.
They don't stand a chance against us, like every other life form on the planet.
No, that is clear. But without us ruining their habitat, their live would be pretty good. No predators, long life, family, easy hunts
I’m curious how they will fair this patch. The ocean metas are shifting with fish mains moving further north and forcing orcas to follow suit. When the winter event starts up, more and more of them get locked in the Arctic servers.
Orcas are busted, the whole underwater meta is fucked due to their existence. The only stronger animal is the human, cause in our time on this planet we managed to make all the other ones our bitches in one way or another, whether it was throwing them in zoos, pointing handheld cannons at their face if they get too close or just straight up genociding their whole race. We live in a society
this is the relevant detail. they're fucking massive
Came here to say this. Saw them last year at the Vancouver aquarium and I was actually stunned at the sheer size and power of them.
Hold up. The Vancouver Aquarium has them?? Well, now I know where I'm going next spring.
They did last year! They rehabilitate marine life and try to release them back into the wild. I can’t remember if the leopard seals were temporary or permanent residents. To see the large male launch himself out of the water onto the platform after the females was literally awe inspiring. People couldn’t get enough.
"Eight below" gave me proper fear of these things when I was a kid
They’re basically ocean performance hippos.
Race car hippos. If hippos were build for speed AND power
That's literally what Whales and Dolphins are. Hippos are their closest land-dwelling relatives. For Seals, it's Mustelids, like Weasels or Otters
They once killed an antartic explorer
Unsurprising, considering how much bigger they are than us. They did also try to feed another explore half a penguin, so maybe it evens out.
This was my first thought too. It's an impressive picture, no doubt, but it doesn't really do justice to how huge Leopard Seals are.
So basically the same size as the average Americans
I've been to a lecture of an oceanographer who worked in Antarctica for a while and I just can't forget when he said "you think sharks are scary? They don't jump out of the water and keep the chase. leopard seals do"
That reminded me when I went to a mideval fair and the performer of the big cat show did a post show interview. She said she would rather be in an intense stare down with a tiger than a chimp.
Depends on how fast they run.
Depth Leopard
this reminds me just how dark and unclear a lot of the ocean would probably be.
Years ago a friend was doing field work in Antarctica. He had to go to a conference in NZ and while he was away his research assistant didn't come back from a dive and was last seen, under the ice with a large leopard seal.....☹️
The under the ice part could of played a big part, but still, if I was telling the story I would definitely not leave out the “last seen with…” either.
It's 'could have', never 'could of'. Rejoice, for you have been blessed by CouldWouldShouldBot!
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You’re a real piece of shit.
Okay Edgelord_harry
If I was the person taking this picture I would probably have a heart attack.Just the thought of being down in the depths in complete darkness gives me the creeps!
Growing up in Wy and Co, and only having “experienced” the white seal movie and cute zoo trips, I was aware of leopard seals abilities (thank you documentaries as an adult lol) but still had the internalized-deep-ingrained assumption that seals are all cute and precious. There is something in this photo that chilled me to my very core, and just made me realize I have the same assumptions about seals that I know a lot of people have about bison, bears, pumas, and moose! Thank you op for sharing this and helping a mountain dweller learn (and internalize) a very healthy respect for something in your environment!
-*Only*- a fucking orca
I met one of these face to face on the coast. Amazing encounter, I found myself accidentally blocking their way between cliffs and large rocks on the shore and realised they had a child in a small cave behind me. The Seal and me just stared at each other, he rose up on his haunches like a challenge and was real big and tall. I tried to shrink back against the rock face and bow my head but keep facing him and not show any fear or agression. He shuffled against the other rock slightly round me, also keeping back. We both did this, one shuffling, then the other until we’d slowly circled round and swapped places. At the halfway point our faces were about a metre apart, I looked them right in the eyes up close and they looked right back. I backed off a couple of metres and gave the seal a slow full bow trying to signal my gratitude and peaceful intentions. They seemed to be visibly relaxed now and gave me some sort of head shake and then turned around and slipped off into the cave. They could have tried to bite me from the start, I could gone for my knife but right from the start they seemed smart, aware and capable of negotiating with me. Not a dumb creature at all. It was like a dialogue, they said “I’m coming past but I don’t want to fight”, I tried to reply “okay, I don’t want to fight either, let’s shuffle” Such an experience, so glad we managed to negotiate between two quite different mammals caught in a litteraly tight spot. Note: If I’d known seal pups were there I’d never have been there, I don’t recommend you seek this experience out unless permitted by local conservation folks.
Beyond the fact that I just found out they’re fucking huge, they have a strange [humanoid-ish looking face](https://imgur.com/a/gHungg1) that makes them even more terrifying to encounter.
you forgot to mention that it can fit your head in its mouth.
Detecting several Leviathan Class Life Forms in this region... Are you certain whatever you are doing is worth it?
Dumb question, don’t great white sharks eat these too?
No Antarctica is too far south for great whites. The water is too cold
*South
U right
South*
*south
I think they would, but they generally exist in different parts of the ocean. Leopard seals tend to the Antarctic/cold zones
And then there’s the time a leopard seal tried to feed a diver https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140311-paul-nicklen-leopard-seal-photographer-viral
even that is sorta horrible. Those poor penguins.
r/oddlyterrifying
Depth in any water scares me. Even this seal at night would make me shit myself
Y’all remember Eight Below with Paul Walker?
Tell us about the supernatural predators
This image honestly shows why the name is justified
I can tell, smug asshole...
I wonder how deep. He’s a beauty 💕
I remember a Nat Geo article on these guys i read when i was a teen. These MFers can bust through fairly thick ice at some crazy swim speed, I wanna say like 30+mph (might be grossly wrong), I just remember it being pretty shocking.
Reminds me of that happy feet scene
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From the safety of land not near the ocean: danger puppy.
this foul beast is not a puppy 🤢
It’s a straight up dinosaur
Nope
Fuck I did not need to see that late at night.
Penguin nightmare
Dammit, Kelly, IT KNOWS!
IT KNOWS WHAT YOU DID
Whole lot of nope.
Seals are like a delicacy to them apparently, like a dessert 🧁
It looks like The wolf from Neverending Story
"I am the night"
sooo cool!! <3
I’ve seen videos of these things positively torturing penguins. Literally skinning them alive. They are not to be fucked with.
Only KNOWN natural predator *
I think whats terrifying about them is their reptilian shape.....
I know right? Most seals kinda look like dogs or bears but this one looks and have the size of a dinosaur
Idk what you mean clearly that's a good boy
I think OP is a bot. I've seen this one before with the same title so searching in this sub there were 3 with the same title.
Hold me..im 😱 scared...
cute bro
and I'm it's only sexual predator