Talk:Leopard seal

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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Clcoker, Jeanpete. Peer reviewers: Dicalvar, Zionix 13.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 02:27, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Comment
I removed The Leopard Seal is widely regarded as the most ferocious seal in the Antarctic, and has killed humans; it should be treated with due care. I can find only one documented instance of a leopard seal killing a human, and I'll add that in shortly. If other documented cases can be found, feel free to add it back. Joyous (talk) 18:30, August 4, 2005 (UTC)

Shouldn't there be more to this page such as birth cycles and locations? Sandy June 22:51, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

I'm uncertain of the policy towards copyrighted images (new to Wikipedia), but the award-winning photo on this page would be an excellent addition to this article. As it is, I have added the link, in a new External Links section. --208.57.48.100 19:43, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
 * It looks like the copyright belongs to either the photographer George Duffield or the BBC Wildlife Magazine. Unfortunately without the express permission of the copyright holder we can't use the pic. - Randwicked Alex B 12:12, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Here are some other great pictures from Paul Nicklen. He also tells a fascinating story about his encounter with a Leopard Seal, trying to feed him with penguins  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Madeingermany (talk • contribs) 04:13, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

What's its conservation status??? -- e. 23:24, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I think they're fairly abundant, definitely not endangered anyway. - ҉ Randwicked ҉ 07:08, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

The Leopard seals that are in the Australia have been known to eat platypuses. they love to eat meat. --> Any proof of this afirmation? LA

This article states that male leopard seals are sexually mature around ages 4-6, however that isn't sited and I found on another site that the age of sexual maturity in males is about 4.5 years. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jeanpete (talk • contribs) 17:48, 15 May 2018 (UTC)

Thank you for adding information about the breeding habits as this information is not commonly known. Adding information about their physiology and research was also helpful. People tend to think vicious killer when they think of the leopard seal but your guy's work shows viewers that there is more to these creatures besides their aggression towards humans. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nathanperisic (talk • contribs) 02:32, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

"mammal-like reptile"
At the time of writing, the article contains this line: "Their heads also are more similar to that of a mammal-like "reptile" than that of a mammal". I can't find any evidence for this, and can't imagine what it refers to. Dentition, skull, musculature? As it appears to be unreferenced cryptozoocruft, I'm just going to take it out and would ask anyone who wants to put it back to A) cite a reference, and B) explain what it actually refers to. Rogerborg (talk) 18:52, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

The head most definitely does look almost snakelike or like a Komodo dragon. For me this is merely a somewhat obvious observation, and if you can't see that and need a citation and an explanation for it, you need your eyes tested and some very thick lensed spectacles. However, maybe its a result of having jaws that can open extremely wide, who knows. Lo and behold I've just found a page www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/wildlife/seals/leopard.shtml that says "Leopard seals have a muscular, somewhat reptilian head, with a sinuous neck, highly arched back and long powerful flippers." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.177.116.201 (talk) 02:50, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Adding Range and Habitat Section
Should we add a range and habitat section to this article? I don't have the time to do it right now, but just thought about that.

Wikieditor2258 (talk) 04:27, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Putting fact that they are vicious predators who kill people to the lead
This extremely dangerous animal is known to kill humans, dragging them from the ice and drowning them in the wild. There is detailed section in the article; it is also top predator akin to polar bear in the north, and much more vicious than other seals. These things are notable and should be mentioned in the lead.

Whoever removes these things (already present in the article) from the lead should discuss the removal here. What do you object to and why? Do you claim they are not known to attack humans? That they are not top predator (second only to orcas) in Antartic waters? That they are not dangerous and threat to occasional human they ecounter?

This is the place to discuss it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.198.222.220 (talk) 06:39, 31 January 2013 (UTC)
 * The problem with your edits is that your description of them being "extremely dangerous" and "vicious" violates a neutral point of view, making it sound like they regularly go out of their way to hunt and kill humans, which they do not actually do. And then there's how you don't actually provide any references to support your loaded, purple prose description.--Mr Fink (talk) 06:45, 31 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Plus, if you had bothered to read the article fully, there has been only one leopard seal fatality officially reported, thereby making your statement that leopard seals are vicious, extremely dangerous animals that kill humans sort of false.--Mr Fink (talk) 06:49, 31 January 2013 (UTC)
 * (edit conflict) In short, see WP:NOR and WP:UNDUE. Most large animals can and do attack and kill people, and must be treated with care. This alone makes them neither predators nor vicious. The number of fatalities from leopard seals is ridiculously low for a large animal (first ever documented case in 2003). Materialscientist (talk) 06:51, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Paul Nicklen
 Paul Nicklen, a National Geographic magazine photographer, captured pictures of a leopard seal bringing live, injured, and then dead penguins to him, possibly in an attempt to teach the photographer how to hunt.

This unsourced conjecture strikes me as very dubious indeed. (Why on earth would a seal teach a man how to hunt? Did it mistake him for a seal?) At the very least, a citation is needed of some credible source for this comment. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chalkieperfect (talk • contribs) 02:08, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

How common are leopard seal attacks on penguins compared to eating fish?
There is one photo of a leopard seal killing a penguin. If this isn't very common I think it would violate NPOV. --Anonymous Coward 05:12, 5 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Why would it violate NPOV? Leopard seals have been documented preying on penguins.  That, and showing a leopard seal eating one of its known prey does not violate NPOV, especially since no obvious effort or intent has been made to suggest that the leopard seal only eats penguins.--Mr Fink (talk) 05:17, 5 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Given that this is one of the few images on the page, it has a heavy impact on readers' perception of leopard seals' behavior. Combined with a very low statistical likelyhood (if that *is* the case), it would paint a false picture as to the diet of the leopard seals and therefore just be sensationalism, violating NPOV. --Anonymous Coward 09:52, 7 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Do you have any reputable sources that state that leopard seals do not prey on penguins on a regular basis, or any other reputable source of information that suggests the idea of leopard seals preying on penguins on a regular basis is NPOV-violating sensationalism beyond your own concerns?--Mr Fink (talk) 18:21, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

Images from this article to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Antarctic Sound-2016-Brown Bluff–Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) 04.jpg and File:Antarctic Sound-2016-Brown Bluff–Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) 05.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on 2018-12-13. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2018-12-13. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 13:54, 8 December 2018 (UTC)

Appropriateness of the picture caption "A leopard seal yawning."
Firstly apologies for adding a query/comment to the article instead of the talk page and thanks to Elmidae for quickly removing it. My defence is that it was well past my bedtime.

I know little about leopard seals but my understanding of yawning is that it involves inhaling air and this obviously won't work underwater. BBC Deadly on a mission episode 11 on iPlayer ATM has the presenter Steve Backshall filming them underwater. He was at pains to say they were unpredictable and, significantly, his film shows a number of underwater images very similar to the one on the article page. Backshall said 'when the animal keeps coming closer showing all its teeth like that it's definitely NOT yawning. Clearly intimidated he left the water. I don't edit articles -at least not intentionally -unless I'm very familiar with them but could someone use this source (or better) to show that 'yawning' seems unlikely or allow my own edit in a day or so, referring to Backshall and suggesting it is a threatening posture. Regards JRPG (talk) 21:19, 28 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Aplogies for snapping out that edit summary, too... 'twas past my bed time as well, which makes me grouchy :p Re yawning, if there's reasonable doubt that that is what the image actually shows, let's remove the caption. One could readily replace it with something like "A leopard seal displaying its distinctive teeth". -- Elmidae (talk · contribs) 21:32, 28 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks for a rapid response and an altogether simpler solution! Steve Backshall is a little too much like the late Steve Irwin to me, his programs were great entertainment but not too scientific but the animal was clearly under water. I'll do it tomorrow -unless you want to do it. Good night as I'm yawning too!  JRPG (talk) 22:42, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

Natural Predators
Just a note. There are 1000s of documented accounts of lions being killed by Buffalo. This does not make us say Lions natural predators are Buffalo. Animals attacking each other needs serious scholarly articles to prove a species is preyed upon by another. --169.0.4.235 (talk) 20:01, 16 March 2019 (UTC)

New Zealand Resident Species
The Leopard Seal was recently officially determined to be a resident species in New Zealand

* An article by NIWA - https://www.niwa.co.nz/news/owha-and-her-friends-awarded-citizenship * An article on Stuff - https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/113020936/leopard-seals-now-officially-considered-new-zealand-residents

I added reference to this under Distribution, this factual addition was reverted (rolled back) (by Apokryltaros)

Perhaps somebody more adept at determining what is and is not reliable and useful information would be able to write a better reference to this fact.

202.78.155.23 (talk) 05:48, 27 May 2019 (UTC)

"Reptile-Like Head"
The article currently claims that "it is perhaps best known for its reptilian-like head and massive jaws which are enormous for its body size and which allow it to be one of the top predators in its environment." The cited overview states that "Leopard seals have a sinuous body and massive head and jaws. Because of the shape of the head, they appear almost reptilian."

I don't agree, and am not persuaded by the insults in a previous discussion of the topic. But there's a big difference between saying they "appear almost reptilian" and that they have a "repitile-like head," which suggests more a vague outward resemblance to sauropsids.

Leopard seals, like other mammals, have distinct sets of teeth, including canines, have one opening on each side for jaw-muscle attachments, have only the dentary bone in the lower jaw, and have jaw joints between the dentary and squamosal, with the other bones incorporated in the middle ear. These are all synapsid traits, and most of these are mammalian traits. The plate of the skull besides the passage shows most of these traits. Some extinct sauropsids had distinct sets of teeth, but not the other traits. 138.88.18.245 (talk) 04:22, 28 June 2021 (UTC)