First documentation of leopard seal predation of South Georgia pintail duck

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Edwards, Ewan, Forcada, Jaume, Crossin, Glenn T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Springer Verlag 2010
• Subjects: Marine Sciences; Zoology; Ecology and Environment; Antarctic; Bird Island; Antarc*; Antarctic Fur Seals; Antarctic Krill; Leopard Seal; Leopard Seals; Polar Biology
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/10485/; http://www.springerlink.com/content/75j482136uv5200t/fulltext.pdf

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.