Range

• According to MarineBio, a marine conservation and science education group, the crabeater seal lives in the Southern Ocean and on the pack ice of the Antarctic continent. Pack ice is frozen sea water that forms a crust of ice on its surface. In the winter, the seals can be found as far north as South America, Tasmania, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
  
  

Migration

• During the summer, the seals live in Antarctica, but when the winter begins, crabeater seals head north, moving at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour to spend the winter in warmer waters. Some juvenile seals will become confused and start heading south on the pack ice, a mistake that will usually prove fatal as they travel away from the water and into the colder, harsher environment.
  
  

Breeding Habits

• Crabeater seals are typically solitary. However, during the breeding season, which occurs on the pack ice in spring, they gather in small family groups consisting of a male, a female and their pup. This group will need a sizable territory with a radius of up to 150 feet, which the father will defend aggressively.
  
  

Diet

• The crabeater seal's Antarctic habitat provides it with krill, its primary diet, though the seal will also eat small fish and squid. On shallow dives, crabeater seals use their teeth to strain krill from the water. According to the Seal Conservation Society, this reliance on krill may cause issues for the crabeater seal in the future as the number of krill-eating whales start to recover from over-hunting. As whales become more populous, the competition for krill will increase.
  
  

Threats

• According to MarineBio, the crabeater seal's remote location protects it from hunters, but the species does face a few threats. They are at risk of suffering from the harmful effects of environmental pollution, while global warming may melt down the pack ice and reduce the seals' habitat.