PICS: Rare creature washes up on Plettenberg Bay’s shore

Marine biologist Dr Gwen Penry says she was alerted to reports of a seal on Robberg Beach, Plettenberg Bay on Monday morning, in which on closer inspection it was established that the animal was a leopard seal (hydrurga leptonyx).

According to Penry, spotting these creatures along the South African coastline is a truly rare occasion as their normal range is in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands more than 4,000km away.

Last month the carcass of a juvenile leopard seal was found along Cape Recife beach in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.

This was only the ninth recorded sighting of the species in South Africa since 1946. Before that, the last one was found in Milnerton near Cape Town last year.

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Source: The Citizen
Tue 11 Aug 2020 at 07:41