Antarctic Wildlife
Antarctic Wildlife
One of the highlights of our trip was a chance to get up close to the Antarctic wildlife. McMurdo seemed to be an ideal place to view penguins, seals, Skua gulls and various types of whales.I had read a lot about these creatures and was eager to see them up close.
One of the seals was seemingly unperturbed as a group of us gathered around to take its picture.
Someone got a little too close, however, and the seal woke up suddenly. It looked at us, decided we were no danger and went back to sleep. Later, when we started running out of fresh meat, there might have been some danger.
Penguins of all types abounded in our area and seemed to never lose their curiousity about what we were doing. The Adeles were more abundant and they loved to follow us around and, at times, they seemed to be performing for us. This little guy looks like he's dancing.
More often than not, you saw penguins in a group and they seem to be having a great time.
I was amused one day when we were playing volleyball and a group of them stood around and watched us. You had to be careful, however. I sat down a can of beer and one of the penguins came over and started drinking out of it. Emboldened I picked him up and he promptly slached my arm with his beak. I still have the scar.
One of the things the penguins enjoy is swimming as they are very fast in the water. There are, however, predators in the water--killer whales and leopard seals--so they have to be cautious. They crowd up to the edge and keep pushing until one of them falls in. If he doesn't get eaten, then the rest join him.
We were always surprised at how unafraid of us the penguins were. Here we see a group of sailors from the Nespelen walking with an Emperor penguin. This guy followed them back to the ship, walked up the gangplank, looked around the well deck and then jumped over the side.
This emperor penguin seems to be taking a snooze standing up. Emperors are very big; they range from 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall.
He decides to go sledding--they can move very quickly across the snow in this position.
We saw a lot of killer whales and were careful not to go too close to the edge of the ice when they were around for fear that they might mistake us for a penguin
I have no pictures of Skua gulls as I tried to avoid them whenever I went walking on the ice shelf. They are very determined predators and I wasn't interested in finding out if they would attack me.
I have written a short story about a sailor who walks with a penguin. Click on the following button to read this story:
