Page 77 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #11

BED OF SEALS
CRISTOBAL SERRANO, SPAIN
Winner, Animals in their Environment

A group of crabeater seals doze on an ice
floe at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
These seals, widespread in Antarctica, are
dependent on sea ice for resting, breeding,
avoiding predators such as killer whales and
leopard seals, and accessing feeding areas.
Cristobal waited in a rubber dinghy until the
sea was relatively calm before launching his
drone to fly “high and smoothly … using low-
noise propellers to avoid disturbing the seals”.