Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

Weddell – probably a 3-yr old female I thought and in very good condition. The
flecking of the underparts was very marked - sandy with dark brown-grey
patches.
A month later at Oliphant Islets I counted no less than seventeen Weddells and
one leopard on an agglomeration of ice floes. On one floe, which held three
Weddells, one of them drank from the sea, leaning over the edge of the floe, and
seven sheathbills picked at its excreta. A leopard I had seen earlier that day had a
very large head and dark markings, the weight concentrated in shoulders and
neck, and the body tailing off behind. It was possible to compare it directly with
Weddells nearby and it was quite distinctive.
Another day, off the West coast, a leopard patrolled the edge of the brash below
us, no doubt looking for birds on the water. On many of the floes, Weddell seals
were basking in the sun, among them two crabeaters. Two Weddells were lying
out on the shore of the last bay I visited and I roused one of them who looked at
me, showed his teeth and leisurely made his way to the water, stopped to drink
and then slipped into and under water. His head reappeared some twenty yards
out regarding me with a quizzical expression. I had the enduringly joyful feeling
that these animals had no fear of man, having never experienced any natural
enemies on land or ice, and only killer whales or leopard seals in the sea.
I made my way around Porteous Point and into Cummings Cove on the West
coast. There were some very large and thick floes there and on many of the
smaller floes lay solitary Weddells; one floe supported a leopard and vulnerable
crabeaters within 12 ft of each other. I noticed another seal in the water and later
saw that it was a leopard. It had the hindquarters of a small elephant seal that it
was tearing to pieces in the water. This it did by gripping the meat between its
vicious jaws, submerging until only its back was showing and then, arching back
and flexing its tail, it flung its head backwards with a jerk, tearing off a chunk of
flesh. It raised its head vertically and swallowed once, twice. A crowd of Cape
pigeons, a few snowies and two Dominicans gathered round for the pickings.
One day after breakfast Derek rushed into the hut saying there was a whale or
dolphin in Normanna Strait. I hurried out with the binoculars and saw that it
was a leopard seal off Outer Islet devouring its prey. In its mouth it had the
carcass of a seal - I could see the tail-flippers - which was freshly killed to judge
from the amount of blood in the water and the colour of the meat. For a
considerable area round about the water was coated with oil from the blubber -
producing a slick, shiny, calm patch. The usual dress circle of birds had formed -
of Cape pigeons, snowies, Dominicans and nellies (giant petrels), which
occasionally rose in a cloud as the leopard snapped at one of their number. The
leopard was tearing at the meat in the way described above but more often it
curved back in a concave bend with tail up and only infrequently in the lobster
fashion. I was able to see the colour of the prey, which was brown and from this
and the shape of the hind flippers I decided that it was a young elephant.
Then the leopard began to make off, abandoning the carcass. It swam very
leisurely, submerging at about 2-3 min intervals, and made its way across the
bay disappearing North of Balin Point. There might be an opportunity to take it
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