Report of a mummified leopard seal carcass in the southern Dry Valleys, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Abstract

The wide spread occurrence of mummified seal and penguin carcasses tens of kilometres from the open ocean is an interesting phenomenon occurring in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. Mummified seal carcasses were first reported by Scott’s expedition in 1903 (Scott 1969), and live seals and seal carcasses have since been reported many kilometres from the nearest ice-free ocean. Seal carcasses found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys are predominantly crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga (Hombron & Jacquinot)) with a smaller number of Weddell seals, (Leptonychotes weddellii (Lesson)), also reported. Here we present only the second published report of a leopard seal carcass from the McMurdo Dry Valleys.