Leopard Seal Lunch

[deckardcanine]

Photographer Paul Nicklen had a strange Antarctic trip.
A leopard seal had rammed his boat and almost made it tip.
His captain then encouraged him to join her in the sea:
He wouldn’t get a better chance at crisp photography.

The seal, about four meters, put his camera in her jaws.
She made a frightful noise at him until she reached a pause.
She gazed with curiosity, and then she swam away,
So Paul assumed the two of them would meet no more that day.

But only minutes later did that leopard seal arrive
To give the stunned photographer a penguin, still alive.
She let it go; it tried to flee; she snatched it up again.
Paul estimates the number of these gift attempts at ten.

Of course, he’s not a predator, at least not like a seal.
To kill and eat a penguin raw would not have much appeal.
The seal began to tire the prey and then present it dead.
When Paul still didn’t eat, she dumped the penguin on his head.

The seal exhaled quite sharply, sounding threatening once more.
Paul worried what she’d do to him; he couldn’t reach the shore.
She charged—but not at him; there was another seal behind.
It seems she was protecting Paul, a thought that blew his mind.

He came again the next three days, and every time they’d meet,
The leopard seal would try in vain to get the man to eat.
I guess it ended sadly from a certain point of view,
But Paul has quite a story that he’s glad to share with you.