Initially, I thought that this leopard seal was heading for me. I soon realized that another leopard seal had snuck up behind me. She chased it away, took its penguin and offered the penguin to me.
A bull elephant seal rests in the surf zone after a lengthy migration to Fortuna Bay.
With the highest biodensity of life anywhere in the world, thousands of elephant seals and king penguins line the beaches of South Georgia, Antarctica.
A leopard seal does a playful threat-display by opening its jaws as wide as possible.
A leopard seal flipper.
A leopard seal rests on a piece of drifting glacier ice.
A leopard seal patrols the rocky and icy shores of the Antarctic Peninsula,
A huge female leopard seal tests my nerves by doing wide open mouth lunges.
A leopard seal catches a gentoo penguin and toys with it before eating it.
Elephant seal bulls in their prime battle for the right to breed.
A leopard seal feeds on a penguin chick.
A leopard seal drifts on sea ice.
Crabeater seals sun themselves on a pan of sea ice between feeding sessions.
An 8,000-pound elephant seal bellows out over his harem, warning away rival males.
A dominant elephant seal bull defends his territory and harem on the shores of South Georgia.
A leopard seal arches its body to show its true size.
A leopard seal began to flip dead penguins on top of my head after I failed to accept any of her live offerings.
A mother harp seal's whiskers ice up in a cold polar wind after exiting the sea.
A newborn harp seal pup waits patiently for its mother to return from the sea so it can nurse on her rich milk.
The heart-melting gaze of a curious harp seal pup.
The whiskers of a bearded seal curl in the cold Arctic air.
A bull walrus explodes out of the mud and races for the surface after feeding on clams.
Such a big bull may stir up, shell, and suck down thousands of clams a day.
An Atlantic walrus plods toward shore after gorging on clams in the shallows.
Walrus rely on a muzzle full of sensitive whiskers, called vibrissae, to help locate prey.
Walruses depend on dense clam beds for life sustaining nutrition.
A leopard seal swims playfully in a a kelp forest.
This playful leopard seal tried to sneak up on me and blow bubbles in my face.
Young elephant seal bulls mock-battle in the shallows of Cooper Bay.
A breeding elephant seal bull throws sand on this back to cool down from the hot summer heat.
An elephant seal bull cooling off in fresh water.
After a busy morning of hunting, a leopard seal rests on a chunk of glacier ice.
When I refused her constant offerings, she would get frustrated and blow bubbles in my face.
She becomes more insistent in her efforts to feed me penguins.
Once she realized that I could not catch or accept one of her live penguin offerings, she started to bring me dead penguins.
She tried various poses to try to get me to accept one of her offerings.
A leopard seal tries to feed my first penguin.
A walrus flicks his huge tusks.
A large bull walrus rests on the underwater shelf of multiyear ice.
Mother walruses protect their young as they migrate through Arctic waters.
A mother walrus and her newborn pup rest on a piece of multilayer ice.
An elephant seal pup gets up close and personal in the shallow waters surrounding South Georgia, Antarctica.
