Leopard Seal With a Penguin, Antarctic Peninsula, 2006

Photographer Paul Nicklen watched as this 12-foot-long (3.7-meter-long) female leopard seal toyed with her catch, a live penguin chick. "She dropped it on my camera," he said. "Then she opened her mouth and engulfed the camera—and most of my head. After 45 minutes of more threats, she finally relaxed and ate."

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Deadly Beauty," November 2006, National Geographic magazine)

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