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Monday 12 December 2022 2:40pm

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Giverny Forbes says not much research has been done on leopard seals, but she feels they have been misrepresented in the media. 

Educating the public about leopard seals, which have generally been misrepresented as aggressive, has been a central focus of University of Otago Master of Science graduand Giverny Forbes.

Forbes, who is graduating with a master’s in environmental science, studied leopard seals living in urban areas – a phenomenon only starting to happen in New Zealand, where people do not really live with too much wildlife other than birds.

Leopard seals are true seals in that they do not have external ears like sea lions or fur seals, and wriggle across sand instead of moving on all fours.

Forbes as met more than 50 of the creatures in Aotearoa New Zealand, from Whangarei to Cannibal Bay, in the Catlins, since 2015, and has featured multiple times in the media commenting on the creatures.

Not a lot of research has previously been done on the animals, she says.

“Human wildlife cohabitation is occurring worldwide, but the focus is usually on places where it’s lions and tigers and elephants living in the communities.

“[Those animals are] sometimes destroying crops and killing livestock or people. And that’s what the research around cohabitation has focused on.”

Forbes always knew she wanted to study zoology at Otago and says her first interactions with leopard seals took place while she was completing her undergraduate degree.

Initially she volunteered to monitor a female leopard seal at a Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) marina, before becoming more involved with the animals during her master’s.

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Forbes found the seals are more likely to retreat from people than confront them.

As part of her master’s she investigated what impact cohabitation was having on the seals, and on the people that used the marina.

“The main takeaway from my research is that if you give them enough space, then they’re less likely to be affected by human activity.”

Forbes says people fear the seals, but her research proves there is no need to be scared.

She found the seals were more likely to retreat than confront people.

“Unless you’re getting really in their face and doing something very silly.”

Maintaining a 20-metre distance from a leopard seal was important and allows them to get the rest they need while on land.

Auckland harbour users reported experiencing both positive and negative impacts from sharing space with a leopard seal.

Quite a few people enjoyed the seals presence and appreciated the value it contributed to the ecology and people’s education, she says.

Negative impacts included people being frightened, and in some instances the fear stopped people from feeling comfortable cleaning their boats, for example, because they feared being attacked. Boat cleaning was the only activity stopped due to fear which was reported directly to the study.

“There was a period where [the seal at the marina] would go out on public piers and get in people’s way.”

There were also some people who were concerned about the seal’s well-being.

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Forbes hopes her research will highlight the positive sides of leopard seals.

Forbes feels a lot of media coverage portrays leopard seals, which are the apex predator of Antarctica, as being aggressive.

There had been one reported incident in particular of a seal mistaking a person in Antarctica for prey and drowning them, which had likely contributed to that misunderstanding.

“What has been fed through the media is, you know, here’s this big dangerous animal, but that’s the only angle that’s ever been portrayed about them.

“I think we’re still learning so much about them, and we know so little about them.”

Many of the people Forbes interviewed realised they were dealing with an intelligent marine animal, and while they had the potential to be dangerous that was not necessarily the animal’s attitude.

“Leopard seals are this big, charismatic marine animal which we know next to nothing about.

“I hope my research can help to reveal the other sides of the seals, start to add more to their story.”

Having completed her master’s, Forbes plans on taking a bit of a break for traveling.

- Kōrero by Koren Allpress, Internal Communications Adviser

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