She crawled the last 25 feet to the animal through the blowing ground snow. You should have taken out shares in Eastman Kodak for the amount of film we were burning on this one. She easily darted the animal and we waited about 10 min to approach. The animal was too light to work with, so we darted it again and then surrounded it so that it would not leave the area. By this time, the genetics team hiked over to where we were and helped us put a net and a bag over the head of the animal.
Leopard seals are extremely beautiful and yet somewhat scary animals.
Very snakelike appearance with a very large, square head and a mouth full of teeth. We were able to collect all the samples we needed from the seal and then prepared to weigh it. We got it into a sling, erected the tripod over it and then cranked on the winch. After much, but rapid consultation, we were able to quickly shorten the hoist rope and try again, hoping that the tripod legs would hit the ice beneath the snow. We finally got the animal off the ground to get its weight.