© Amos Nachoun / Barcroft Media
This beautiful but deadly leopard seal – with its mouth wide open displaying its two-inch long razor sharp teeth – looks like it’s saying cheese to a camera.
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Photographed in the shallows of Antarctica’s freezing Southern Ocean by daredevil snapper Amos Nachoun, the 12 foot long beast was spotted as it hunted down its penguin prey.
Captured in its full glory in February of this year, the agile leopard seal of Pleneau Island near Port Lockroy is part of a group that congregate each year on the Antarctic Peninsula to feed.
© Amos Nachoun / Barcroft Media
“These are sleek and violent hunters,” said ex-special forces member Amos.
“The leopard seal is a canny operator, he will ambush his prey in a skillful manner by waiting in silence at the bottom of the shallow channels that run along Pleneau Island.
“They will then launch themselves at the unsuspecting penguin and grab hold of its feet.
© Amos Nachoun / Barcroft Media
“Using their immense grip the seal will then hold the penguin under the water until it has drowned.
“In one of the most visceral acts that I have seen in wildlife photography the leopard seal will then take the penguin to the surface and shake its body to a pulp before eating it.
“They do not like to eat the penguins feathers.”
Photographing one of mother nature’s nature’s most brutal scenes is not an easy task.
© Amos Nachoun / Barcroft Media
“We travel for four days from Ushairi on the southern coast of Argentina in a sail boat at the height of the Antarctic summer to get to Pleneau Island,” said Amos.
“The air temperature can peak at around 10 degrees and the water temperature can fall as low as minus one.
“As such we must use dry-suits with thermal insulating layers to ensure that we can enter the water.
“Using these we can stay for up to one hour in the sea with the seals.”
Because of the dangers of diving in the icy Antarctic, experienced Amos has a different respect for this type of photographic expedition.
© Amos Nachoun / Barcroft Media
“Antarctica is a final frontier,” he said.
“Only very experienced divers who have excellent buoyancy could be prepared for this type of dive.
“They must understand that they face not only the danger from the seal, but from the water and climate too.”
For Amos diving with any leopard seal is always daunting.
“In the water, most associate sharks with danger,” he said.
“But when divers with me see the intelligence, agility and size of the leopard seal they can become nervous.
© Amos Nachoun / Barcroft Media
“I explain that they must not encroach on the seals space and not to provoke it into any unwanted action.”
Even though Amos has dived with Great Whites and photographed polar bears from three feet away, he still is in awe of the leopard seal.
“They are impressive hunters,” he said.
“They are the only seal that is capable of attacking a human being and as such need to be treated with due respect.
“I have seen them throw themselves onto rocks during a hunt into the middle of a group of sitting penguins. They ignore all the others around them and chase the one penguin that they are tragetting.
“They are single minded, decisive and want the particular prey that they have chosen.”
Words by James Nye
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