Weddell seal numbers in 2025 have declined sharply on Signy Island, part of the South Orkney Islands in the Southern Ocean, where British Antarctic Survey researchers have tracked seal populations for nearly 50 years to understand the impact of melting sea ice. (Photo by Michael Dunn/The Times)

In this 1997 photo released by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a seal hunter, right, threatens a cameraman with a knife during the filming of a seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada. “Huntwatch”, a documentary by the organization about the fight to end commercial seal hunts, premieres in September 2016 on Discovery. The producers say it includes grainy but powerful archive footage that had languished in the basement of the group’s headquarters on Cape Cod for nearly five decades. (Photo by Richard Sobol/IFAW via AP Photo)

A grey seal basks under a rainbow on a beach on the Lincolnshire coast, England on November 21, 2017. (Photo by Sean Weekly/Caters News Agency)

A ranger watches a seal pup near the Northumberland coast, Farne Islands, UK on December 19, 2018, where the National Trust says the number of Atlantic grey seal pups has reached a record high thanks to an abundance of food and a lack of predators. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire Press Association)

A leopard seal feeds Paul Nicklen a penguin. (Photo by Paul Nicklen/National Geographic). Antarctic Peninsula, 2011

Caporal dancers perform during the carnival celebrations in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday February 14, 2015. The Carnival of Oruro which is a religious festival dating back more than 2000 years in an ongoing pagan-catholic blend of religious practice in the region, and is one of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

“This grey adult male seal enjoys a good grin while lying on the beach”. (Photo by Michael Hutch/SplashdownDirect via Rex USA)

An Atlantic seal pup lies amongst the rocks at St Martin's Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Britain October 8, 2018. Seal pups are born with fluffy white non-waterproof coats which they moult out in their fourth week. (Photo by Rebecca Naden/Reuters)