How to Use leopard seal in a Sentence

leopard seal

noun
  • No one is certain why marine mammals like whales, sea cows and leopard seals are so big.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 27 Mar. 2018
  • Like clockwork, the leopard seal arrived in the lagoon just before low tide.
    — Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2022
  • What leopard seals eat varies depending on the time of year and prey availability.
    — Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2024
  • For instance, leopard seals make a living hunting down penguins and even other seals.
    — National Geographic, 24 Dec. 2019
  • One tense scene that forced Gregory and his crew to think quick on their feet was an encounter with a leopard seal in the third episode.
    — Matt Minton, Variety, 21 Apr. 2025
  • Amos Nachoum was awarded the grand prize for his image of a leopard seal hunting a penguin.
    — Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2022
  • Without many other fledglings around, the young penguins may be more likely to become a meal for a hungry leopard seal.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Oct. 2022
  • Penguins constitute about a quarter of the leopard seal’s diet throughout the year.
    — Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 1 June 2021
  • Ou was rendered breathless by its smiling leopard seals and flourishing penguin colonies.
    — Evelyn Wang, vanityfair.com, 25 Sep. 2017
  • The young gentoo penguin in the picture jumped into the lagoon to play during low tide — and got ambushed by the leopard seal.
    — Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 1 June 2021
  • These sound combos placed leopard seals curiously alongside us.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 11 Sep. 2025
  • The leopard seal is a semi-aquatic mammal and an apex predator in Antarctica.
    — Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 29 July 2022
  • Each breeding season, male leopard seals dive beneath the ice and repeat long, solitary sequences of five distinct call types for hours on end.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Photographer Paul Nicklen is still awestruck by his face time with a leopard seal in 2006.
    — Craig Welch, National Geographic, 13 Jan. 2023
  • In the ocean, though, penguins most contend with leopard seals, formidable hunters that specialize in warm-blooded prey.
    — National Geographic, 3 Feb. 2020
  • Weighing in at over 1,200 pounds, a leopard seal looks like the prehistoric marine species that once took on the dinosaurs.
    — Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 7 Dec. 2022
  • Young Gentoo penguins only enter the water at low tide, so fierce predators like the leopard seal use it to their advantage.
    — Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Mar. 2022
  • The leopard seal, sometimes referred to as a sea leopard, is the second-largest species of seal in the Antarctic, behind the southern elephant seal.
    — Samuel Sanders, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Sep. 2024
  • For many species, scientists are only beginning to recognize the role of sound in their survival, including leopard seals.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 11 Sep. 2025
  • The penguin must leave its home turf and venture into unfamiliar waters to face the peril of leopard seals that have jaws big enough to swallow a basketball.
    — Patrick J. Kiger, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2019
  • National Geographic Critter Cams like the ones seen above also show how leopard seals prey on fur seal pups and steal food.
    — Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, 19 Sep. 2017
  • Though leopard seals are widespread and abundant, overfishing, retreating sea ice and warming waters mean that krill and penguins, their main food sources, are both in decline.
    — Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2024
  • That matters for leopard seals because they're considered ice-obligate animals.
    — Craig Welch, National Geographic, 2 May 2019
  • Nachoum explains in a statement that just before the low tide arrived, a ravenous leopard seal scanned the shallows for its unsuspecting dinner to arrive.
    — Elizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Mar. 2022
  • Other days involved watching for whales, exploring with naturalist guides, searching for the elusive leopard seal, and hiking to see different penguin species.
    — Sarah Groen, Travel + Leisure, 20 Nov. 2024
  • See humpback whales, leopard seals, and gentoo, Adélie, and chinstrap penguins, or watch icebergs float by and go hiking through Antarctica's untouched landscape.
    — Alison Fox, Travel + Leisure, 30 Apr. 2023
  • Curiously, though, there have also been reports of leopard seals behaving in a friendly manner towards people—apparently trying to present gifts, in the form of prey, to divers.
    — The Economist, 17 Aug. 2019
  • My afternoons were filled with kayaking with humpback whales, zipping around in a zodiac raft to spot leopard seals, snowshoeing around glistening bays, and watching penguins slide down the soft snow on their bellies.
    — Hannah Freedman, Travel + Leisure, 17 Feb. 2025
  • Birds such as albatross and southern giant petrels are often visible soaring through the skies above, while elephant seals permeate the beaches and solitary leopard seals feed in the surrounding waters.
    — Laura Kiniry, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Because the locals hunt for sustenance, species like harp seals, beluga whales, and the elusive narwhals have learned to avoid humans, which explains the less frequent sightings in comparison to the south pole where penguins, orcas, and leopard seals exist without this threat.
    — Jillian Dara, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'leopard seal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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