Watch: Leopard seal teaches photogapher how to hunt

Photo: Brian Lam/National Geographic

Brian Lam calls the time he spent being taught hunting by a leopard seal in the chilly waters of Antarctica "the most incredible experience I've ever had as a National Geographic photographer". While photographing the giant sea predator, he was adopted by a large female leopard sea who spent four days trying to teach him to hunt penguins. At first the seal would bring him live healthy penguins. After Mr. Lam failled to catch them, she brought weakened penguins, then dead penguins before finally ripping apart a penguin in a last ditch effort to show the photographer how to eat.

 

Watch this, it's pretty amazing:

 

 

It's fasinating behavior, you might think that the last thing a predator wants to have around is competition, but maybe sometimes the desire to have a buddy to play around with overrules that. Having easy to catch penguins around probably makes it easier to invite a new mouth into the local scene.

 

Animals are awesome.

 

Via Boing Boing