A leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) emerges from the kelp on Bird Island, South Georgia

Leopard seal off the Falkland/Malvinas islands. Photo by Justin Hofman, 2024.

OMG, Have you seen this video???

Specifically Autahi the Leopard Seal, named after the star that appears in the pre-dawn sky during the Māori New Year. Her remains were found on a beach near Dunedin, and following a blessing by representatives from Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka Ki Puketeraki she was collected by the Department of Conservation for study and preservation.

Unfortunately it doesn't appear her death was an easy one - when she died, she had a spine from a Chimerid fish stuck through her face between cheek and gum, was suffering from an infection in her teeth and gums, and some of her large canine teeth were cracked or missing. Pneumonia, probaby exacerbated by her injuries and starvation, finished her off.

So also had a number of scars, and signs of fractures on the bones beneath - poor girl had certainly been in the wars.

But the taxidermy and skeletal articulation are lovely work - the bones were a 930 hour job by sculptor Julie Streat.

The binomial means  "thin-clawed water worker".

Leopard seals are the second-largest seal in Antarctic waters, and one of the top predators in the region. Mothers with young pups and the occasional vagrant come further north, and may be found on Australian, South American, South African and New Zealand beachs. They can reach 3.5m in length, and up to 600kg in weight.

They're most notorious for eating penguins, but the diet includes squid, birds, fish, other seals, and krill they catch with molars that lock together into a sieve like that used by crabeater seals. Attacks on humans are rare but not unheard-of. And tragically, in 2003 British biologist Kirsty Brown of the British Antarctic Survey was killed by a leopard seal while conducting research snorkeling in Antarctica. On the other hand, Nat.Geo. photographer Paul Nicklen captured pictures of a leopard seal bringing him live, injured, and then dead penguins, possibly in an attempt to teach him how to hunt.

A leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) amongst the seaweed on Moto Ihupuku, Aotearoa

A leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) amongst the ice in Antarctica