A seal of the pack ice around Antarctica. Usually solitary, it eats fish, penguins, krill and other prey.
It has a slender body, long foreflippers and a large head. The wide-opening jaws hold long canine teeth.
Across Antarctic pack ice, male leopard seals call underwater for hours during the breeding season. Researchers compared 49 recordings from different individuals made in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, in 1992 and 1993. They analysed bouts of uninterrupted calls lasting at least 30 minutes, recorded with a hydrophone under the fast ice.
Larger males kept similar numbers of calling bouts and long rest periods from November to December. Smaller males had shorter bouts and more long rests in December than in November. Because seals cannot breathe while calling underwater, the researchers suggested that sustained calling could signal diving capacity and stamina. They also raised another possibility: smaller males may call less to avoid conflict with larger males.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global species-level assessment (Hydrurga leptonyx)
The IUCN Red List’s 2026 global assessment classifies the leopard seal as Least Concern (LC), estimates 25,000–79,000 mature individuals and records the population trend as unknown. It also records continuing decline in habitat extent or quality. Chile’s national classification likewise lists the species as Least Concern across its distribution.