Among Antarctic scientists and explorers, the tale of the "cautious penguins" is legendary. During the breeding season, the tale goes, penguins crowd by the thousands on small strips of icy shoreline, waiting to see which penguin will be brave enough to explore the dark waters. The danger? Seals. Leopard seals to more exact. Adelie Penguins cluster together on the ice before jumping into the Antarctic waters.

Leopard seals, it has been rumoured, consider Adelie penguins to be their number one delicacy. The seals are known to wait in ambush under the surface of the water for any "foolhardy" Adelie to enter from the icy beach above. The leopard seal is renowned for its hunting prowess, while the Adelie penguin is famous for its overt cautiousness and intelligent escape tactics. But is this the whole story?

Researcher Gordon S. Court set out to find the truth behind the tales. Leopard seals can grow up to eleven feet long and weigh 900 pounds -- females usually grow 10% larger than males. "Although penguin hunting is their most dramatic feeding activity," writes, Court, "it provides only a small part of the seals' varied diet." Stomach contents have shown that the seals' diet consists of 50% krill, 40% fish and squid, and up to 10% birds and other seals.

As for the penguins, Court writes, "Although most reports about leopard seals and penguins stressed the hazards faced by birds when first entering the water, we found that penguins swimming toward shore when returning from foraging trips were at greatest risk. Only one in thirty chases involved a penguin that was leaving the ice edge."

Speaking of a particular chase, Court wrote the following account: "For long suspenseful moments, the chase of one Adelie continued underwater; rapid changes in the direction of the bubbles indicated that the seal was in hot pursuit. Suddenly, the zigzag changed to a straight line, an all-out test of speed with both animals rising, arcing, and resubmerging in synchrony. An Adelie penguin on land is an ungainly thing, but in water, it moves like a salmon and, when travelling fast, clears the surface every few seconds to breathe. To see an eleven-foot-long leopard seal, weighing perhaps 800 pounds, match this performance, stroke for stroke, is spectacular. The chase lasted for some minutes, long enough for four scientists working in different parts of the penguin rookery to look out to sea and watch the Adelie successfully outdistance the seal."