User Comments
Fantastic gnashers!
Mark Collins - 15/Nov/13
Designed for sieving out krill apparently!
Alan Hill - 15/Nov/13
Designed?.
Bob Windsor - 15/Nov/13
by the blind watchmaker...
sbc_10 - 15/Nov/13
That's a "mummified" Leopard seal - a Lep not a Crabbie !
Colin - 28/May/14
It's a crabbie! - there are about 150 of them mummified on James Ross Island
Alan Hill - 30/May/14
Suit yourself but those heads of Leps were a big tick for fids to take home with them
Colin - 11/Jun/14
Have you tried googling crabeater seal teeth?
Alan Hill - 12/Jun/14
I saw both craabies and leps live when I worked down there. Those front teeth are no use for grubbing about on bottom for crabs and molluscs. I gave my pups a Lep head to play with. They would climb in the back and out the front eventually. Were you taking the mickey about sieving krill ? Whales have to sieve prodigious quantities for a meal. How to you reconcile "crabeater" with sieving krill ? Dog Holden verified my assertion - he has a Lep head at his home in Wigton, Cumbria if you want to have a look I'm sure he will help you (he shot it himself).
Colin - 12/Jun/14
In two books I read that Crabbies do in fact live off krill. I've included phots of both seals.
Colin - 12/Jun/14
Looks to me like a Crabeater (Lobodon Carcinophaga), one of several species of Lobodontine Seals. The Leopard Seal has three lobes to it's teeth, without the cusps. I am NOT an expert, just a pedant!
Tam O'Bam - 24/Sep/14
Thanks Tam! There's about 150 of them in a relatively small area of James Ross Island, some 130m above sea level. There's been a scientific paper written on them trying to work out what happened. Let me know if you want a copy!
Alan Hill - 26/Sep/14