Antarctic seal facts and discoveries for children and parents
Whisper reminds her friends to pause and listen. Real Weddell seals give us a wonderful reason to do the same: their underwater world is full of calls, from whistles to chirps and trills. [3]
Join Whisper to explore the animal behind the character. Discover how Weddell seals live beneath Antarctic ice, find air, raise their pups and communicate. Then become sound detectives together.
Whisper is our fictional Weddell seal, with her own personality and appearance. This page introduces the real species that inspires her. Luna, our leopard seal, represents a different species.
Meet the real Weddell seal
Scientific name: Leptonychotes weddellii
Look for: A small head relative to a broad body, with a mottled grey coat and a paler underside. [1]
Size: Adults are roughly 3 metres long and often weigh around 400–500 kilograms. Individual size varies. [1]
Home: Coastal waters around Antarctica, especially areas of sea ice attached to the coast. [1]
On the menu: Fish, squid, octopus and other marine prey. The mix changes with place and season. [1]
A mammal in an icy world
Weddell seals are marine mammals. They breathe air, and mothers feed their pups milk. A seal swimming under ice still needs a route back to air. [2, 4]
Weddells belong to the true seals. These animals have ear openings without the external ear flaps seen on sea lions and fur seals. “Earless seal” is another name for this group, but it does not mean they cannot hear. [2, 4]
Talk together: What would you need to think about before exploring beneath a roof of ice?
Krillbee.com • Resource copy • 20 October 2026 |
KRILLBEE & FRIENDS | DISCOVER THE REAL ANIMALS
Life beneath the ice
An opening to the air
Weddell seals breathe through cracks and holes in the ice. When thin new ice forms over an opening, they can scrape it away with their teeth to help keep their breathing hole open. [1]
A breathing hole connects two very different worlds: the water below and the air above. Finding the way back matters just as much as finding a meal.
Did you know: A seal’s teeth can be tools as well as help with feeding. Imagine having part of your ice-maintenance kit in your mouth.
A body adapted for diving
Weddell seals have large oxygen stores in their blood and muscles. Their bodies regulate how that oxygen is used during dives. Oxygen is the gas their cells need to release energy from food. [5]
Weddell seals can dive beyond 600 metres. [1] Dive depth and duration vary with conditions and what the seals are doing. [5]
Ask your child: Why might looking for food close to the surface require a different journey from looking near the seabed?
An insulating layer
Blubber is a layer of fat beneath the skin that helps seals conserve heat. It also stores energy. Young Weddell seals develop their blubber as they grow. [4, 6]
A word to discover: An adaptation is a feature or behaviour that helps an animal live in its environment. Blubber and the ability to use stored oxygen are two examples.
Flippers with different jobs
True seals mainly use their hind flippers to propel themselves through water. Their front flippers help with steering. On land, they cannot turn their hind flippers forwards beneath their bodies to walk like sea lions. Their movement looks very different out of water. [4]
Look closely: In a seal photograph, find the front flippers and the paired hind flippers. A limb may be hidden by the pose; it has not disappeared.
Krillbee.com • Resource copy • 20 October 2026 |
KRILLBEE & FRIENDS | DISCOVER THE REAL ANIMALS
Seal voices and growing pups
A quiet character and a vocal real animal
Whisper’s thoughtful personality belongs to the stories. Real Weddell seals can be wonderfully vocal. Their calls include whistles, chirps and trills, and scientists investigate how those sounds relate to communication and behaviour. [3]
Some calls are associated with males defending underwater territories. Researchers have also described differences in call types and patterns between groups near different Antarctic stations. A recording gives scientists clues, although it does not translate neatly into a human sentence. [3]
Did you know: Scientists can study seals by listening as well as watching. An underwater microphone is called a hydrophone.
Listen to the real sounds
The Australian Antarctic Program’s sound collection includes Weddell seal breathing, repeated chirps and whistles that fall in pitch. Pitch means how high or low a sound seems. Which kind of sound surprises you most? [7]
Listen to Weddell seal sounds in Sounds of Antarctica
From fluffy pup to capable swimmer
Weddell pups are born on the ice. Their first coat provides insulation when dry, while growing blubber becomes increasingly important as they develop. Pups can begin swimming within their first days of life. [6]
Researchers studying pups near McMurdo Station followed their growth, coat changes and swimming. The youngsters continued spending time in the water while moulting, even though keeping warm there used energy. The researchers suggested that this experience may help prepare pups for independent life. [6]
A word to discover: Moulting means shedding an old coat as it is replaced. It is part of a seal’s natural life cycle.
Ask your child: What might a young seal need to practise before it can find food and travel independently?
Being young does not mean doing everything an adult can do. Swimming, feeding and navigating are different challenges, and growing animals develop their abilities over time.
Krillbee.com • Resource copy • 20 October 2026 |
KRILLBEE & FRIENDS | DISCOVER THE REAL ANIMALS
Become a seal detective
Try the underwater sound challenge
You will need a device that can play the linked seal recordings, paper and pencils. Allow ten to fifteen minutes. Play the sounds at a comfortable volume.
1. Open Sounds of Antarctica and find the seal section. Choose a Weddell seal recording. [7]
2. Listen once without drawing. Does the sound seem long or short, high or low, smooth or broken into little bursts?
3. Listen again and draw its shape. A long sliding whistle might become a curved line; repeated chirps might become a row of short marks. There is no single correct drawing.
4. Compare two Weddell recordings. Describe one difference using your own words.
5. Share your drawings. Did you notice the same details? Write down one question a recording cannot answer by itself.
For younger children: Choose one sound and describe it together. Point upwards or downwards as its pitch seems to change.
For older children: Add the recording title and source to your drawing. Explain which marks represent pitch and which represent time. Your drawing is a listening record, rather than a scientific measurement.
Whisper and Luna represent different seals
Use real wildlife photographs to compare the species. Spots alone are not enough to identify them. Look at the whole animal. [1, 9]
| Look at | Weddell seal | Leopard seal |
| Head and body | Small head relative to a broad body. | Larger head and a more slender body. |
| Front flippers | Compare their proportions with the body. | Notice the conspicuously long front flippers. |
| Typical ice habitat | Often associated with coastal fast ice. | Commonly associated with drifting pack ice. |
Comparison sources: Australian Antarctic Program Weddell seal and leopard seal profiles. [1, 9]
Whisper and Luna introduce us to different Antarctic animals. Which difference can you spot first in the wildlife photographs?
Krillbee.com • Resource copy • 20 October 2026 |
KRILLBEE & FRIENDS | DISCOVER THE REAL ANIMALS
Caring for the Weddell seal world
Why sea ice matters
Fast ice is sea ice attached to the coast, islands or grounded icebergs. The word “fast” means held firmly in place. Pack ice is made of floes that move with winds, currents and waves. [8]
Stable fast ice provides important places for Weddell seals to raise their young. Climate-driven changes in sea ice can alter these habitats. Conditions vary around Antarctica, so one location cannot tell us the whole story. [10]
A simple way to explain it: “A seal needs suitable places to rest and raise a pup, food to eat and access to air. Scientists are finding out how those needs fit together as Antarctica changes.”
Something to do together
Choose a local place where wildlife rests, feeds or raises young. Observe from a distance and discuss what the animals might need. A park, wetland or beach can start a useful conversation about habitats.
Your family could also reduce wasted electricity or help collect litter. These are ways to practise caring for the environment. Protecting Antarctic habitats also requires wider action by governments, researchers, industries and communities.
For curious grown ups
Follow your child’s interest: sounds, pups, body shapes or life under ice. You can read one section and leave the rest for another day. A question you investigate together often lasts longer than a list of facts.
Whisper’s calm character should not suggest that a wild seal wants human company. Wildlife needs space. Use photographs and recordings for close observation, and leave resting animals undisturbed.
Our stories imagine friendships between animals. These resources explore their real lives. If your child notices a difference, you can explain that stories and nature follow different rules, while keeping the answer simple and factual.
Questions children may ask
Is a Weddell seal a fish? No. It is a mammal that breathes air and feeds its young milk. [2, 4]
Does earless mean deaf? No. True seals lack external ear flaps, but still have ears and can hear. [4]
Is Whisper the same kind of seal as Luna? No. Whisper is a Weddell seal; Luna is a leopard seal. Their real species have different features and ways of living.
Keep exploring with Whisper
Choose one sound to describe to someone who has never heard a Weddell seal. What would you say? Careful listening can open a whole new world of questions.
Animal facts reviewed on 20 October 2026. Sources and further reading follow.
Krillbee.com • Resource copy • 20 October 2026 |
KRILLBEE & FRIENDS | DISCOVER THE REAL ANIMALS
Sources and further reading
Numbered references in the text correspond to these links. Families can explore photographs, recordings and further explanations together. Some research pages are intended for adults.
[1] Australian Antarctic Program — Weddell seal
[2] Australian Antarctic Program — Seals and sea lions
[3] Australian Antarctic Magazine — Call of the Weddell
[4] Smithsonian Ocean — Pinnipeds Seals Sea Lions and Walruses
[5] Research paper — Weddell seal breath holding and diving behaviour
[6] US National Science Foundation — Weddell seal pups swimming while moulting
[7] Australian Antarctic Program — Sounds of Antarctica
[8] Australian Antarctic Program — Sea ice
[9] Australian Antarctic Program — Leopard seal
[10] Australian Antarctic Program — Antarctic sea ice in crisis
Start with the recordings
For a first family visit, choose Sounds of Antarctica and scroll to the seal section. Listen to two Weddell recordings before exploring the other animals. The breathing recording is a useful reminder that seals need air.
For adults following the research
Reference 5 reports a 2024 study of Weddell seal diving and foraging across seasons. Reference 6 describes research published in 2022. Reference 3 is an older research account from 2005; its descriptions of call types support the listening discussion here.