| Fauna
Microscopic land insects
and invertebrates live in Antarctica. Their organisms adapted to
the rigorous Antarctic climate. But on the Peninsula, the most fascinating
fauna is the marine wildlife. At the base of the marine food web
is the plankton that develops in summer and nourishes fishes, squid
and krill. Krill is a 5 cm long shrimp-like crustacean. It is the
most important source of food for an great number of animals and
abounds in the polar seas below the Antarctic convergence.
Penguins
The largest of all, the emperor penguin (1,15 m.) is the
only penguin to lay eggs in winter, male and female taking
turns to feed and hatch. In the Peninsula, they can only
be found in Dion Island in Marguerite Bay.
The others penguins are a lot smaller (between 65 and 80
cm.). They arrive in spring for coupling and rear the chicks. |
Chinstrap penguin - Antarctica |
The most representative is the adelie penguin, the last
to go north at the end of the austral summer. The gentoo
penguin is able to climb impressive snowy or icy slopes
to build its nest. The chinstrap penguin, more represented
in the subantarctic islands, nests especially in the South
Shetland islands. All these penguins, symbol of the Antarctic,
with their funny walking and attitude, are excellent swimmers,
very fast and elegant when in the water. |
Other
birds
Many birds from the wide family of the petrels
are to be found in Antarctica, including the most delicate, the snow
petrel that can nest kilometres away from the sea inside the continent.
Their relatives, the fantastic glider albatrosses prefer the subantartic
islands for reproduction (see South Georgia).
The arctic tern makes an incredible voyage, flying more than 10 000
km from the other side of the world to feed here!! The other birds
are shags, gulls, sheathbills, the only Antarctic bird without palmed
feet and skuas, predators of the penguin colonies.
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Leopard Seal on an iceberg - Antarctica
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Seals
Like the penguins, their world is the
sea where they are very fast and agile, and they look heavy
and clumsy on land. The Weddell seal spends the whole winter
in the Peninsula keeping a hole in the ice to fish. In summer,
it often lies on land. The customs of the crabeater and leopard
seals are not well known as they spent the winter on pack-ice.
In summer, the crabeater swims around the icebergs or rests
on drifting floes. The leopard is a lonely animal, able to
attack the penguins with its large jaw and its long reptile-like
body. Some fur seals and elephant seals breed in the South
Shetland islands and on the Peninsula but on a lot smaller
scale than in South Georgia. |
Whales
A whale swimming in the Antarctic waters with its blow in
front of the snowy mountains is one of the most majestic sights
in the world. They generally breed in warmer seas and come
to Antarctica to feed in summer. On the Peninsula, the most
common are the right, minke and humpback whales. The latter
uses an amazing method to catch the krill, using a real bubble
net that it makes swimming in a circle. The killer whales
come to look for penguins, seal or even whales for food.
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Humpback whale - Antarctica
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