Leopard seal – the ferocious fiend of the Happy Feet movie. Prehistoric and Voldemort like in looks, but exciting to glimpse. Eats penguins for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner). It’s only predator is Orca!

Weddell seal – so chilled out that they rarely respond to your presence. Their most notable attributes seem to be their amusing sleeping habits.

Elephant seal – to me, it looks like someone drew Thomas the tank engines face on a seal. I struggle to take them seriously – but as the largest seal in Antarctica, I really should. During March and April we had a group who hung out on the apron and fought, their grunting echoing around base. Their own movements seem to exhaust them fairly quickly though.. embarrassing. They were hunted to almost extinction during the whaling era, but have recovered in number!

Fur seal – the odd one out. It’s more closely related to sea lions than seals due to its external ears. They can also lift themselves up more upright than the other seal species. It is very Labrador like in movement and sound – its growl and whimper being an excellent mimic. They put up more of an aggressive resistance and were frequently in the way as we navigated around the point. Recently reclassified as IUCN redlisted due to food scarcity from climate change and over fishing.

Crabeater seal – I saw these least – but they are apparently the most abundant seal in the world with a population estimate of between 7-75 million! A cute slender face and a diet of Krill!

So, who is your fave, and who would you not want to encounter on an iceburg?