Leopard seals are regular winter visitors to Bird Island, South Georgia, where they mostly prey on fur seals and penguins, and to a lesser extent on Antarctic krill and fish. Leopard seals can exploit many different species, but there are no records of predation on flying shorebirds in the wild. On 4 October 2008, an individually identified juvenile leopard seal female was observed killing and eating a South Georgia Pintail duck. It also preyed on Antarctic fur seals and gentoo and macaroni penguins during its 2-month temporary residency around the island. The varied diet of this seal exemplifies the generalist prey utilization typical of its species. Long-term diet studies at Bird Island and the published record suggest that predation on ducks is a rather exceptional finding; individual ducks are more likely to escape leopard seal attacks than penguins and provide a far less substantial ration. This note documents the first observation of this species of duck in the diet of leopard seals. © Springer-Verlag 2009.
CITATION STYLE
Edwards, E. W. J., Forcada, J., & Crossin, G. T. (2010). First documentation of leopard seal predation of South Georgia pintail duck. Polar Biology, 33(3), 403–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-009-0709-z
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.