Questions and Answers

I am interested in the leopard seal. It sounds really fierce. Is it? Why do they call it the leopard seal? Do they ever attack people?

Answered by Chuck Amsler on 3/18/2004 3:08:35 PM

Hunter -- Leopoard seals have very, very rarely tried to attack people and there is only one record of a diver being attacked. However, we always treat them as dangerous animals. Kevin has a journal entry posted last night that talks about an encounter he and I had the other day. They are called leopard seals because they have spots and because they are predators of penguins and of other seals. Still most of the year a majority of their diet is krill.

We read that Crabeater seals do not eat crabs. What do they eat? How did they get their name if they don't eat crabs?

Answered by Chuck Amsler on 3/17/2004 1:21:59 PM

They eat krill, which is a very plentiful, shrimp-like animal (a crustacean) that is very, very important as a food item to many of the birds and seals. Crabeaters pretty much only eat krill. There are virtually no crabs in Antarctica. But the early explorers didn't know that and when they saw the scat from crabeaters, it looked like the remains of crabs to them. So that is how the seals got their name.

How do you get electricity? What do you miss the most about being in the United States?

Answered by Chuck Amsler on 3/17/2004 1:16:35 PM

We have a pair of big diesel generators that supply all the electricity for the station (one is running all the time and the other is held in reserve as a back up). Right now what I miss the most is not being able to watch my beloved Duke Blue Devils and UAB Blazers in the NCAA tourney!

Have you seen whales breaching? What kind of whales have you seen? Do they make noise?

Answered by Chuck Amsler on 3/17/2004 1:11:47 PM

Britton, I haven't seen any whales breaching this year but some of the folks did on our way into station last month. The only ones I have seen breaching (and what folks saw last month) were humpbacks. They make a very loud splashing sound when they land. I have also seen minke whales, orcas, and southern right whales in the region.