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Seal Kills Snorkeling Scientist in Antarctica
- Thread starter medea
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Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
And what's with the attempt at philosophy?I think I understand what you're getting at - but its sort of like quantum physics and Schrodingers Cat in a box experiment...
D
Never mind what I said, I was tired (Clunes work) and not really thinking.
I might edit it or delete it to something that makes sense, I'm not sure why I posted that.
I'm not sure if you were joking, but I will assume you were not.
Polar bears inhabit the Arctic, not the Antarctic.
Leopard Seals are one of the top predators in the Antarctic. It was probably hunting her, prior to the attack.
Watching the Discovery channel, I've seen those Leopard seals and they're pretty agile for their large size. They primarily hang around the icepacks, ambushing emperor penguins that are returning or leaving. While inquisitive, I'd never get in the water with one.
Impressive thread resurrection especially considering that this is your first post. The OP's from 2003.
She was probably mistaken for a seal
Leopard seals are predators, eating a wide range of prey including penguins, crabeater, Weddell and fur seals.
It seems not too much of an assumption that this scientist was wearing a dry-suit, because of the cold. Perhaps the dry-suit was dark, red or even black.
Can Leopard seals see colour?
They can dive for ~ 15 minutes but do not dive deep - where light levels are low.
Since they live in the polar seas they have to hunt in the dark / low light during the polar winter, they may have monochrome vision.
If they have limited colour perception, it will probably biased towards the blue / green portion of the spectrum, because of differential spectral absorption by seawater. If they have blue / green vision, a red dry-suit would appear dark grey or black.
Perhaps she was mistaken for a seal? Probably she was attacked from behind.
Not a nice way to go!
My condolences to her friends, colleagues and family. Not that they are likely to read this.
Re Tame Penguins and humans
There are no predators on the ice in the Antarctic.
In the Antarctic, the danger is in the water!
Leopard seals are predators, eating a wide range of prey including penguins, crabeater, Weddell and fur seals.
It seems not too much of an assumption that this scientist was wearing a dry-suit, because of the cold. Perhaps the dry-suit was dark, red or even black.
Can Leopard seals see colour?
They can dive for ~ 15 minutes but do not dive deep - where light levels are low.
Since they live in the polar seas they have to hunt in the dark / low light during the polar winter, they may have monochrome vision.
If they have limited colour perception, it will probably biased towards the blue / green portion of the spectrum, because of differential spectral absorption by seawater. If they have blue / green vision, a red dry-suit would appear dark grey or black.
Perhaps she was mistaken for a seal? Probably she was attacked from behind.
Not a nice way to go!
My condolences to her friends, colleagues and family. Not that they are likely to read this.
Re Tame Penguins and humans
There are no predators on the ice in the Antarctic.
In the Antarctic, the danger is in the water!
Impressive thread resurrection especially considering that this is your first post. The OP's from 2003.
Hey, this might be old news but you never can tell when a killer seal might take a bite out of your ass. Better the public is kept informed.
Humans are an incredibly fragile species when taken out of their element. I'm surprised we see as few accidents as we do when we're interacting with wildlife in such unfamiliar surroundings. Chalk one up to solid planning and other animals' instinctive fear of the unknown.
My heart goes out to her family, even if this is very old news.
My heart goes out to her family, even if this is very old news.
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