Keep walking straight. Ignore the seal.
US FASCINATING images of a brave colony of king penguins passing through a gauntlet of giant elephant seals to feed and clean were captured on the British Atlantic island of South Georgia.
Rest assured, the penguins were not in much danger because, unlike leopard seals, elephant seals don't eat penguins. Instead, they eat fish.
However, these seals can pose a threat if provoked, and their lack of spatial awareness makes navigating through their midst a truly courageous feat.
These amazing pictures were snapped by British wildlife photographer Brian Matthews.
“I’d been on shore for a few hours, and as we left, I recorded the king penguins trying to get through the elephant seal roadblock on their commune,” he recalled.
“Seeing some many seals and penguins was an amazing sight, the noise and smell did become pretty overwhelming though.
“The sheer number of animals there fascinated me. South Georgia is one of the last great wildernesses where the animals are in charge and far outnumber humans.
“For the last 200 years, the seals have been recovering from being hunted relentlessly, and now the numbers are coming back so well that they are blocking all the beaches the penguins use to breed.
“Seeing how they live together and try not to annoy each other was really interesting to witness.”
ENDs