Fauna
In spring the animals naturally gather on the land closest to their
source of food. South Georgia is an ideal place situated in a key
position where currents from Antarctica mix in seas particularly
rich in phytoplancton, krill and squid.The numbers of marine birds
and mammals have to be expressed in thousands or millions according
to the species.
Macaroni penguins |
Penguins
The most abundant penguin is the macaroni with its yellow
head feathers numbering 2 700 000 recorded pairs. The macaroni
penguin lives in huge noisy colonies on rocky slopes, and
hatches only one of the two eggs laid. The gentoo penguin
prefers small colonies making a small nest with little stones
or nesting on top of the tussock to rear its two chicks.
Chinstrap penguins are little represented in South Georgia
whereas 1 million pairs nest in South Sandwich islands.
The largest subantartic penguin is the king penguin which
is almost 1 meter tall. This elegant, beautifully coloured
bird forms large colonies generally on beaches where it
stays all winter. It is the only penguin with a specially
long breeding cycle, rearing a chick almost every two years.
|
Other
birds
Most of the South Georgian birds nest on the surrounding islands
or in places protected from the introduced rats. Some species are
declining because many birds are caught accidentally by fishing
ships.
In open sea, the sailor's eyes are delighted with the majestic flight
of the wandering albatross, the largest bird with its 3,6 metres
wingspan. It nests on tussock terraces on the hills.
The light mantled sooty albatross is also a solitary bird
nesting on cliffs. The perfect parallel flight of the pair
is an unforgettable sight. Black-browed and grey headed
albatrosses nest in large colonies on steep hillsides from
where they just hurl themselves to flight without any wing
flaping at all.
22 million Antarctic prions nest in South Georgia. They
can be seen during the day, but they leave their burrows
mostly at night, like the very similar looking blue petrel
and the white chinned petrel.
Giant petrels often have to share the carcasses of the seals
with skuas, sheathbills or even with the little pintail
duck, which, together with the South Georgian pipit, are
the only land birds to live south of the Antarctic convergence. |
Black browed albatros - South Georgia |
Elephant seals - South Georgia |
Elephant seals
Males arrive in September winning their territories on the
beaches through fierce fights: inflating their trunks with
a powerful grumble, two bulks of over three tons batter
each other till the weaker one abandons exhausted. The winner
will then have a little more space for its harem of 30,
40, 70 or 100 females that will be jealously controlled
throughout the whole breeding season during which they don't
feed at all. Once the pups are weaned, and after copulation,
the animals go to feed. They come back ashore to moult before
leaving for months of voyage. Excellent divers, they regularly
reach depths of over 700 metres. |
Fur
seal
Fur seals also live in harems, covering the beaches from
November. Males defend their territories with astonishing
agility and velocity. When the pups are a week old, females
go to sea to feed and come back after 2 or 3 days. The fur
seal beaches are very noisy, because the lonely pups incesantly
call the females that will recognise their own pup only
through its voice when returning. Looking at their crowded
beaches, it is hard to imagine that their population was
almost extinguished in the 19th century.
Fur
seals - South Georgia
|
 |
Whales
Nowadays, they are very rare in South Georgia. It is said that whales
have an important genetically transmitted memory. Do the new generations
avoid to approach South Georgia because they know about the massacres
that took place here?
Introduced animals
Reindeer were introduced by Norwegians as food for the whaling stations.
Today, they have no predators and the population is growing regularly.
Great tussock consumers, they are seen in the central part of the
island, being unable to cross the glaciers. Rats also arrived with
man and their presence is a real problem for the birds because they
devastate their nests and burrows. A rat-extermination program is
presently led by the government of South Georgia.
|
