Antarctic: Weddell and leopard seals sing

This video is called Penguin vs. Leopard Seal.

From the Google cache of Dear Kitty ModBlog.

7/1/05 at 2:25PM

From AFP:

Seals Have Unexpected Singing Talents

June 30, 2005 — An Australian researcher has found that the males of two seal species in Antarctica woo potential mates by singing complex melodies.

Tracey Rogers of Sydney’s Taronga Zoo said leopard seals, which can grow up to three meters (10 feet) long and have several rows of razor-sharp teeth, have a sensitive side that belies their aggressive appearance.

“In their world, agility, finesse and beautiful lyrics are what count. ”

“Lone males are like opera singers,” Rogers told AFP.

“They hang upside down underwater and gently rock back and forth, singing soulful, stylized songs which carry over long distances.” …

While leopard seals are solitary animals and sing to find a mate over long distances, Rogers said Weddell seals, which live in colonies, love an audience.

“Colonial species like Weddell seals are more like jazz singers,” she said.

Hear a leopard seal here.

Hear call of Weddell seal here (scroll down).

March of the Penguins film director on Weddell seals: here.

The secret life of the Weddell Seal: here.

November 2011. There has been a rare visitor to the St Cyrus National Nature Reserve this autumn – a bearded seal, a mammal usually more at home in the high Arctic than in Scotland: here.

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