Meet the Crabeater seal! the most abundant seal in the world with rough population est. to be around the 3 to 15 million range. However, the exact number is still very much unknown at this point. They can be quite easy to identify, as they are so abundant you get a bit of practice...
Key characteristics are the two toned colour fur coat, a dog-like snout and one of the easiest ways is to look for scars on their body. You can see from the photo of this female that she has a lot of scars on her mid-section. The reason for these scars are still somewhat of a debate. A lot of people believe they are from leopard seal attacks when they are younger, as they are heavily predated on from leopard seals for the first 2 years of their life.
However, I personally believe results from aggressive social interactions with one another - females are known to aggressively attack unwanted advances from males. Furthermore, I do see quite a few large adults with fresh abrasions that would suggest it wasn't inflicted by a leopard seal but perhaps another Crabeater seal.
Either way, they make me smile when they are hauled out on the ice for a nap and seem completely oblivious to your presence. They open their eyes, stare at you, blink a few times, take a deep yawn and then lay their head back down to nap more. Not a bad way to spend a nice afternoon.
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