The Hunter's Breath: On Expedition with the Weddell Seals of the Antartic

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In the tradition of Jane Goodall and Ernest Shackleton, biologist Terrie Williams and seven of her fellow scientists embark on an Antarctic expedition to study one the world's most mysterious creatures, the Weddell Seal. Hunting below the Antarctic ice at depths that would crush the lungs of SCUBA divers and freeze the tissues of most fish, the Weddell seal explores places that no human has seen or touched. Nonchalant and grinning, this seal is the ultimate extreme athlete and a mystery to marine biologists as it bends the rules of polar survival. As a top marine predator, the Weddell seal must stalk, capture, and kill its prey under water while holding their breath for more than an hour.

These are the field notes of an adventurous scientist who travels to the ends of the earth with a dedicated team of explorers to follow the Weddell seal as it plunges to the depths below Antarctica. It is the story of nature and high tech science on ice in the face of whiteout blizzards, persistent frostbite, and bone-chilling temperatures. For years, the limits of video technology stalled the study of these animals; no camera system was small enough or robust enough to travel to 500 m below the Antarctic sea ice to find the hunting seals. Now armed with the technology of science and a passion for answers, this intrepid team resolves to follow the seal on its underwater exploits. Their question is a simple one: how do Weddell seals survive in the Antarctic? Living in the shadow of Shackleton's hut on the remote windswept icescape of McMurdo Sound, the scientists immerse themselves in the world of seals and penguins, cultivating relationships with a wide cast of Weddell seal characters -- from Ally McSeal to Scarface and Lucky Pup with his Mom, each of whom provides a small clue to the puzzle of Weddell survival.