National Geographic - USA (2021-11)

A leopard seal drifts

next to an iceberg

off the western coast

of the Antarctic Pen-

insula. Air bubbles

released from the

melting ice stick to

the lens of the under-

water camera. For

these seals, ice floes

are a place to breed

and molt, and they

provide habitat for

krill, an important prey.

IN MELTDOWN

BY HELEN SCALES | PHOTOGRAPHS BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK

AN ICY WORLD

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