🦈 Great white shark vs Leopard seal 🦭
The great white shark is about twice as long as the leopard seal. The great white shark weighs about 5 times as much as the leopard seal.
Getting the animals ready…
| Row | 🦈 Great white shark | 🦭 Leopard seal |
|---|---|---|
| Size The great white shark is about twice as long as the leopard seal. | 20 ft6.1 m1 | 9.8 to 12 ft3 to 3.8 m2 |
| Top speed We don't have a checked number for the leopard seal yet. | 35 mph56 km/h3 | no checked number yet |
| Weight The great white shark weighs about 5 times as much as the leopard seal. | 2 tons1.8 tonnes1 | 661 to 1,100 lb300 to 500 kg2 |
| Lives The great white shark usually lives about twice as long as the leopard seal. | 30 to 70 years30 to 70 years1 | 26 years26 years2 |
| Eats Both eat meat. | seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales | krill, squid and penguins |
| Lives in They can live in the same kind of place. | cool coastal seas around the world | the pack ice around Antarctica and nearby islands |
Which one? Great white shark or leopard seal
🏁 Who would win the race?
We don't have a checked top speed for the leopard seal yet, so there is no race.
We only race. Real animals mostly avoid each other. A race is the only fair contest: who reaches the tree first, by top speed. Our face-off books compare real numbers, and nobody gets hurt.
10 things to know about Great white shark vs Leopard seal
- The great white shark: The biggest fish that hunts, with rows of spare teeth waiting.
- The leopard seal: A big spotted seal that lives around the ice of Antarctica.
- They are different kinds of animal. The great white shark is a fish, so it breathes with gills; the leopard seal is a mammal, so it breathes air with lungs and feeds its babies milk.
- The great white shark is about twice as long as the leopard seal: 1 against 2.
- The great white shark weighs about 5 times as much as the leopard seal. That is 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the leopard seal.
- The great white shark usually lives about twice as long as the leopard seal. Usual lifespans: 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the leopard seal.
- Both eat meat. The great white shark eats seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales; the leopard seal eats krill, squid and penguins.
- The great white shark lives in cool coastal seas around the world. The leopard seal lives in the pack ice around Antarctica and nearby islands. They can live in the same kind of place.
- The great white shark: needs help (Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List). 4
- The leopard seal: doing fine (Least Concern on the IUCN Red List). 5
Wow facts
🦈 Great white shark
- A great white keeps growing new teeth its whole life.
- It can feel the tiny electric signals of other animals.
- Its body stays warmer than the water around it.
🦭 Leopard seal
- A leopard seal strains krill from the water with its teeth.
- Female leopard seals are bigger than males.
- It lives in the pack ice around Antarctica.
Questions kids ask about Great white shark and Leopard seal
Which is bigger, great white shark or leopard seal?
The great white shark is about twice as long as the leopard seal: 1 against 2.
Which is heavier, great white shark or leopard seal?
The great white shark weighs about 5 times as much as the leopard seal. That is 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the leopard seal.
Which lives longer, great white shark or leopard seal?
The great white shark usually lives about twice as long as the leopard seal. Usual lifespans: 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the leopard seal.
What do great white shark and leopard seal eat?
Both eat meat. The great white shark eats seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales; the leopard seal eats krill, squid and penguins.
Where do great white shark and leopard seal live?
The great white shark lives in cool coastal seas around the world. The leopard seal lives in the pack ice around Antarctica and nearby islands. They can live in the same kind of place.
Do great white sharks eat leopard seals?
The great white shark eats seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales, so seals are on its list, which comes from its page.
Do leopard seals eat great white sharks?
The leopard seal eats krill, squid and penguins. Great white sharks are not in that list, which comes from its page. And the great white shark is about twice as long as the leopard seal.
Who would win, great white shark or leopard seal?
We never show fights, because a fight is not a fair way to compare animals. They can share the same kind of place, and real animals mostly keep out of each other's way. What we can compare is how big, how heavy, how fast, how long they live and what they eat, as above.
📤 Share this pair
The link carries only the two animals’ names: peabody.kids/animals/compare/great-white-shark-vs-leopard-seal
Where these numbers come from
- NOAA Fisheries, checked 30 October 2026.
- University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web: Hydrurga leptonyx (leopard seal), checked 10 November 2026.
- NOAA Science On a Sphere, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 10 November 2026.