This marks the first evidence that sharks are an important food source for leopard seals in New Zealand.
by looking at their scats and observations of them hunting. They had recorded 39 predation events and collected 127 feces samples and examined what species were being targeted by the seals.
Their findings showed the leopard seals were hunting three species of chondrichthyan—elephant fish, ghost sharks and spiny dogfish. Researchers said this is the first known account of leopard seals hunting and eating chondrichthyans and marks important evidence about the role these seals play in the local ecosystem.
"While this is the first published record of leopard seals feeding on chondrichthyans, the relatively high frequency of occurrence within our [New Zealand] records, and that certain individuals appeared to target this type of prey, indicates that these species could constitute a substantial, or important, part of the diet for some leopard seals in this region," the team wrote.
Study co-author Ingrid Visser, co-founder of LeopardSeals.org, said orca—the apex predator off the coast of New Zealand—are often seen eating sharks."To know there is another marine mammal also munching on sharks, well, that has implications for the whole food web and our understanding of how it all is interlinked," she said.
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