Leopard seals. It’s something about their eyes. They’re large, fast, basically silent predators outmatched in their environment only by the Orca. Their jaws open to almost 180 degrees and they have a bite force comparable to a bull shark. The sound they make fills me with a very primal fear. And in the right lighting their eyes are terrifying. I think it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing thing, but instead of a wolf it’s a flipping prehistoric water monster.

Edit: I have learned more horrible facts about the leopard seal, a creature I now worship out of fear there may be one under my bed. These snake-headed murder puppies are (on average) 10-foot-long 600-pound prehistoric killing machines that see any warm-blooded animal smaller than them as prey. Females have been measured to top 11.5 feet long and weighed at over 1,100 pounds of pure, flesh-ripping terror. The corners of their extremely long mouths are permanently curved upward and sometimes they smile. Shocking no one: this is usually a sign of aggression. Nothing can erase from my mind the image of these terrible fuzzy Jeff the Killer beasts *smiling.* Their heads average 14.5 inches long (awful), with jaws that can open to 160 degrees — significantly larger and any one human limb or head (I hate this). Their teeth? Guys? Holy f**k, their teeth? (TW: slightly gross uncleaned skull)

Their lower jaw is MASSIVE, even for a predator. Leopard seal skulls and bear skulls are too similar for my liking. Seal eyes have spherical lenses (what the f**k), giving them a field of vision of about 280 degrees. With both eyes, they can see basically clearly 360 degrees. Humans have about 130 degrees of visual field, and maybe 180 total degrees of vision. If you can see a leopard seal, it has already seen you. You can’t sneak up on these (need I remind you, virtually silent when hunting) murder monsters. They’re skilled at adapting to many climates and food sources, so much so that in a world where polar bears and orcas are struggling, leopard seals are considered “of least concern” on the endangered species scale. The way they eat penguins is to essentially catch them and throw them into the air until the penguin is fully degloved. They throw penguins *out of their skin*. They also have highly developed craniofacial musculature, allowing them tongue dexterity and a powerful bite force. They sometimes hunt by just… sucking prey into their mouths underwater.