Novel Baseline Data on Leopard Seals, the Mysterious Apex Predators of Antarctica
Published:07 Sep.2022 Source:ScienceDaily
The combination of the extreme climate in Antarctica, the species' solitary habits and their lethal reputation makes leopard seals one of the most difficult top predators to study on Earth. Marine biologists have now gathered baseline data on the ecology and physiology of the leopard seal, the enigmatic apex predator of the Antarctic.
Leopard seals have high variability (or, flexibility) in these different traits. Across the animal kingdom, variability is vital for animals adapting and responding to changes in their environment, so we're excited to see high variability in this Antarctic predator.
It's interesting to see such variation [in movements and dive behavior] in a relatively small number of animals. This means that leopard seals are highly flexible in their movement patterns, and that's a really good thing in terms of adapting to changes in your environment.