BRAZIL: A Rio de Janeiro zoo treats a leopard seal who unexpectedly showed up on the beach after migrating from the Antarctic.

A zoo in Rio de Janeiro received a very odd guest this week: a leopard seal, who exchanged the cold waters of the Antarctic and for Brazil's tropical beaches. Large and aggressive, this species of seal - which generally measures more than three meters and roughly weighs some 350 kilos - has never before been officially registered on the country's shores. The leopard seal known by the scientific name of hydrurga leptonyx, feeds on penguins, squid, sea birds and even on smaller seals. The zoo will send its visitor back to its natural habitat after it fully recovers from pneumonia. Veterinarian Thiago Muniz said although there is one account of a person who saw a leopard seal on Brazil's shores, there is no official proof it ever arrived on any of the country's beaches. "This is the first animal that has arrived in Brazil that has been registered photographically. Antarctic and sub-Antarctic (currents) are completely out of the route for the animal to reach Brazil and the marine animals, pinnipedia, penguins that arrive more (frequently) in Brazil from elsewhere, are animals from Argentina, Patagonia," he explained. Muniz said the leopard seal, which is rarely set off course, arrived in such a complicated health state, that at first they thought it would not last longer than a day. "It arrived with this infection in the oral cavity, stomatites... It arrived with a very, very advanced pneumonia. We thought it would be very hard to make it recover. At first it was almost a lost case," he said. The rare newcomer however had an exceptional recovery and should be returning home in two days according to the zoo administration. The leopard seal (hydrurga leptonyx), measuring 3.15 meters and weighing a little over 300kg, is the largest species of seal in the world and very rarely reaches Brazil's shores, since its natural habitat is Antarctica, rather than Patagonia. The leopard seal was found at a beach in Rio de Janeiro with pneumonia and was largely dehydrated. As soon as it recovers it will be returned to the ocean where it should find its way back to Antarctica in a sea current. Leopard seals are found around the pack ice edges of the Antarctic continent. The head of the leopard seal is shaped more like a reptile than a seal. Larger prey such as small seals and penguins are hunted by first hiding under the ice waiting for the penguin or small seal to enter the water. Leopard seals are solitary and few pups have ever been observed. In some areas leopard seals migrate north with the formation of new ice and return south for the breeding season. The leopard seal is so-called because of its spotted markings and leopard-like ferocity. It is the largest of the four true seals which live in the Antarctic throughout the year. The other three species are the Weddell seal, Ross seal and Crabeater seal. There are 32 members of the Order Pinnipedia (fin-footed) in the world, 18 of which are true seals. Then there are 13 species of sea lions or fur seals - and the one species of walrus belongs to a group all of its own.

ITN Source | August 25, 2006

Tags:. .account. .ocean. .measuring. .measures. .administration