📸 PhotoPhoto: Godot13 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Leopard Seal
Hydrurga leptonyx (Leopard Seal · ヒョウアザラシ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A female's body length of 3.8 m is slightly shorter than the length of a passenger car (about 4.5 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its weight of 500 kg equals 50 bags of 10 kg rice (Comparison).
- 💡 Because it rarely encounters humans, this seal is mainly involved in scientific research and education (ADW).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Leopard Seal is said to be the largest of the Antarctic seals, with females larger than males. It is a predator that hunts prey ranging from krill to penguins.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is long and slender, making it agile in the water, with a dark gray back, silvery-gray belly, and dark and light spots across the body. Its long snout and large head are well suited for catching and handling prey.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Primarily filtering krill with its teeth, it is also an apex predator that catches penguins, young crabeater seals, and squid. Solitary outside the breeding season, pups are born on the ice from late October to November.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2026) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/10340/95969074
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1005915
- • iucnredlist.org — 95969074
- • wikidata.org — Q186663
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Antarctic Sound-2016-Brown Bluff–Leopard seal (Hydrurga
- • animaldiversity.org — Hydrurga leptonyx
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Margot Michaud · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.