What is the maximal age a Leopard seal reaches?
An adult Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) usually gets as old as 26 years.
Leopard seals are around 265 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 30 kg (66.14 lbs) and measure 8.5 cm (0′ 4″). They are a member of the Phocidae family (genus: Hydrurga). Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 3.05 meter (10′ 0″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). Its only natural predator is the killer whale. It feeds on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, birds and fish. It is the only species in the genus Hydrurga. Its closest relatives are the Ross seal, the crabeater seal and the Weddell seal, which together are known as the tribe of Lobodontini seals. The name hydrurga means “water worker” and leptonyx is the Greek for “small clawed”.
Animals of the same family as a Leopard seal
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Phocidae):
- Ribbon seal becoming 31 years old
- Northern elephant seal becoming 20.25 years old
- Hooded seal becoming 35 years old
- Harbor seal becoming 40 years old
- Ribbon seal becoming 31 years old
- Baikal seal becoming 56 years old
- Caribbean monk seal with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Bearded seal becoming 31.42 years old
- Hawaiian monk seal becoming 30 years old
- Southern elephant seal becoming 23 years old
Animals that reach the same age as Leopard seal
With an average age of 26 years, Leopard seal are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Black crested mangabey usually reaching 26.75 years
- Fallow deer usually reaching 25 years
- Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo usually reaching 21 years
- American badger usually reaching 26 years
- Brown long-eared bat usually reaching 30 years
- Kob usually reaching 21.92 years
- Dusky leaf monkey usually reaching 25 years
- Bahamian raccoon usually reaching 21 years
- California sea lion usually reaching 30 years
- North American river otter usually reaching 25 years
Weighting as much as Leopard seal
A fully grown Leopard seal reaches around 352.84 kg (777.87 lbs). So do these animals:
- Polar bear weighting 373.35 kilos (823.09 lbs) on average
- Steller sea lion weighting 383.23 kilos (844.88 lbs) on average
- Plains zebra weighting 400 kilos (881.85 lbs) on average
- Dugong weighting 295 kilos (650.36 lbs) on average
- Muskox weighting 312.67 kilos (689.32 lbs) on average
- Malayan tapir weighting 309.61 kilos (682.57 lbs) on average
- Baird’s tapir weighting 292.39 kilos (644.61 lbs) on average
- Weddell seal weighting 400 kilos (881.85 lbs) on average
- Grévy’s zebra weighting 405.5 kilos (893.97 lbs) on average
- Amazonian manatee weighting 418 kilos (921.53 lbs) on average
Animals as big as a Leopard seal
Those animals grow as big as a Leopard seal:
- Mediterranean monk seal with 2.6 meter (8′ 7″)
- White-beaked dolphin with 3.05 meter (10′ 1″)
- Rough-toothed dolphin with 2.44 meter (8′ 1″)
- Irrawaddy dolphin with 2.5 meter (8′ 3″)
- American bison with 2.85 meter (9′ 5″)
- Common eland with 2.66 meter (8′ 9″)
- Walrus with 2.88 meter (9′ 6″)
- Moose with 2.83 meter (9′ 4″)
- Giant eland with 2.52 meter (8′ 4″)
- Javan rhinoceros with 3.1 meter (10′ 3″)