One might think that the encounter was with a family of orcas, that’s how impressive the wound is. But bite marks left by fangs sunk deep into the seal’s flesh do indeed appear to be those of our friend the leopard seal. True, the wound, which is over a metre long, suggests an attack by orcas. But a closer analysis of the scar shows that the skin has simply been ripped off in a wide strip, from the point of attack to the point at which the skin was torn off, below.
Every morning, I go to see him, powerless to help. There is nothing we can do for him. Natural selection picked him out from among the millions of others of the same species. Many would say that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But if we look at it from another angle, that is, if we look at things from the point of view of the predator’s destiny, some might say, rather, that he was in the right place at the right time. It all depends on your point of view. If we had come across the leopard seal in his death throes, famished, at the end of his tether, we probably would have looked upon him with a compassionate gaze.
Today, gazing upon his wounded victim, our point of view changes, adapting to the spectacle offered up by nature. Suddenly, our gaze takes on a measure of sympathy, pity and compassion. And yet, life as we know it here necessarily involves a fight for survival. In this natural system, whereby every individual depends on the others for survival, a winner must be declared. The leopard seal is a predator. It must hunt to eat. Every predator has a corresponding prey. The role of one depends on the other, and both contribute to the balance among species. On that particular day, the die was cast—fate smiled or frowned on this crabeater seal. So goes life in a world where the strongest often come out on top, according to the laws of natural selection.
But all is not yet lost for this crabeater seal. Pascale and I were able to check the external temperature of the wound where the skin had been torn away. Using an infrared thermometer, we can measure surface temperatures while remaining at a reasonable distance from the animal. The subcutaneous layer of insulating blubber is still doing its job, since the external temperature in the area of the wound is about 1.8 ˚C. This means that there has been no significant heat loss. The loss of blood is not negligible, but it is probably insufficient to bring about the death of the seal. The seal must avoid infection by parasites, rest up and hope that scars will develop successfully.
More than 80 % of crabeater seals have scars that bear witness to their encounters with leopard seals. We can deduce from this that the majority survive. Young crabeater seals, only a few months old, often fall victim to leopard seals. The older ones often leave some pieces of themselves behind—probably enough to satisfy a portion of the voracious appetite of one of the most beautiful and powerful killing machines in Antarctica. So goes life, so goes death...
Bon appétit!
Jean
