Taronga has been working this close with their Leopard Seals for as long as I can remember - at least 30 years - with no problems. Obviously, new animals take a little time to settle down, but they are intelligent and work really well once they have settled.
I hadn't heard of anyone being killed by Leopards - can you point me toward an article or link describing the event, please?
Taronga has been working this close with their Leopard Seals for as long as I can remember - at least 30 years - with no problems. Obviously, new animals take a little time to settle down, but they are intelligent and work really well once they have settled.
I hadn't heard of anyone being killed by Leopards - can you point me toward an article or link describing the event, please?
I only know of a story about a leopard seal that TRIED to kill a man, but did not succeed.
Anyway, the seals seem to enjoy the interaction with the keepers and they are reassured by being fed fish and praised. It is also good for the keepers to check the seals' health and those sort of things
I only know of a story about a leopard seal that TRIED to kill a man, but did not succeed.
Anyway, the seals seem to enjoy the interaction with the keepers and they are reassured by being fed fish and praised. It is also good for the keepers to check the seals' health and those sort of things
I don't know why they bother with this species. They are in NO danger of extinction. There are millions of them in Antarctica thanks to whaling increasing their food supply of krill. Why not have great white sharks instead. They ARE endangered and they are Australian.
there are at least two very good reasons why Taronga doesn't keep great whites: they don't have anywhere to keep them (!), and more importantly great whites cannot be kept successfully in captivity (except to a very limited extent at Monterey Bay).
I like leopard seals, and doing free contact on them is not more dangerous than on sealions, ( or elphant seals !)which can be very aggressive, especially Steller Sealion, so some zoos with that species doing no free contact on them, especially the bulls, which are kwown for having killed people in the wild also.
Otherwise , countless kepepers were killed or hured by elphants, but nevertheless, countless zoos are doing still free contact on them...
I believe the leopard seals Taronga holds are beach-wrecked animals. That is why they "bother" with them.
IUCN puts their population at 300,000, a long way from "millions of them"....and their primary food source is certainly not krill!
there are at least two very good reasons why Taronga doesn't keep great whites: they don't have anywhere to keep them (!), and more importantly great whites cannot be kept successfully in captivity (except to a very limited extent at Monterey Bay).
