“The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). It is most common in the southern hemisphere along the coast of Antarctica and on most sub-Antarctic islands, but can also be found on the coasts of southern Australia, Tasmania, South Africa, New Zealand, Lord Howe Island, Tierra del Fuego, the Cook Islands, and the Atlantic coast of South America. It can live twenty-six years, possibly more. Orcas and large sharks are the only natural predators of leopard seals”. – Wikipedia

Photo by: Gilad Rom; Source: Flickr

A dog sits in the shade of a mangrove tree as a woman uses a fork to dig for shellfish on the reef-mud flats of a lagoon located at South Tarawa in the central Pacific island nation of Kiribati May 23, 2013. Kiribati consists of a chain of 33 atolls and islands that stand just metres above sea level, spread over a huge expanse of otherwise empty ocean. With surrounding sea levels rising, Kiribati President Anote Tong has predicted his country will likely become uninhabitable in 30-60 years because of inundation and contamination of its freshwater supplies. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, shelters from the rain under an umbrella as she arrives at the London School of Economics to mark the launch of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, where she took part in a roundtable discussion on the Centre's inaugural report, “Big Change Starts Small” which was released today, in London on June 18, 2021. (Photo by Richard Pohle/Pool via AFP Photo)

Luciana Benetti, 16, feeds her pet pig Chanchi, given to her for a birthday present the previous year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, September 4, 2021. As the new coronavirus began to circulate last year, Benetti found her plans for a big traditional 15th birthday party scrapped. In its place, her parents gave her a pig. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

Xiren Wang, Lili Wat, and Sitong Chen join the pageant’s opening routine, dancing to “The Boys”, a song by K-Pop group «Girls’ Generation». While the women come from a range of professional backgrounds – including economics, nursing, and acting – every contestant is looking for her big break into the entertainment industry. Most contestants said they would prefer to have a career in the U.S. but would go wherever the opportunity lies. (Photo and caption by John Brecher/Sahra Vang Nguyen/NBC News)

A Syrian rebel walks past Sham 2, a homemade armored vehicle, in Bishqatin, Syria, on December 8, 2012. From a distance it looks rather like a big rusty metal box but closer inspection reveals a homemade armored vehicle waiting to be deployed. Sham II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels as “100 percent made in Syria”. (Photo by Herve Bar/AFP Photo)

These stunning pictures show a normally vicious tiger calmly swimming in a pool of algae, on Jule 9, 2014. The powerful cat takes a refreshing break by taking a dip in the bright green algae. But it looks like this big cat is scared of getting his head wet as he strains to keep it above the water. After splashing around for a bit the tiger gets out and tries to air-dry with specks of the vegetation dripping off his fur. The striking pictures were taken at Copenhagen zoo by snapper Soren Lundgren Neilson. (Photo by Soren Nielsen/Caters News)

Shortlisted: “Two big eyes” by Miao Yong (Zejiang province, China). Damselflies look over the leaves. “I was photographing insects in a park near my home when suddenly I found two damselflies in the grass. They kept flying and it was very difficult to focus until suddenly they parked behind a leaf”. (Photo by Miao Yong/2017 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year)