Antarctic Animals

This section contains information, photos and habitat maps about the wide range of Antarctic animals like, penguins, seals, whales etc.

Sections:

• Antarctic Fish
  Although the first Antarctic fish were caught during James Clark Ross’s expedition in 1840, it was not until the 1960′s that commercial fishing started. Today fish like seals and whales in Antarctica are covered by the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources agreement.
• Antarctic Krill
  The Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba) is the best known of the 85 species of krill.
• Antarctic Seals
  This section contains information, photos and habitat maps about the various Antarctic Seals species.
  • Crabeater Seal
    Crabeaters are one the most successful larger mammals. Their estimated population counts forty million seals. They seldom come ashore. They live on the shelf ice and make long journeys around Antarctica.
  • Elephant Seal
    Elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) are one of the tallest mammals in the world. The male can reach 4.5 metres in length and 4000 kg in weight.
  • Fur Seal
    The Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus Gazella) is an eared seal. Contrary to other seals they can move very quickly on the ice.
  • Leopard Seal
    Leopard seals (Hydrurga Leptonyx) are known for their speed and occur mostly along the northern edge of the pack ice.
  • Ross Seal
    The Ross seal (Ommatophoca Rossii) is the smallest, least numerous and least studied Antarctic seal species.
  • Weddell Seal
    The Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddelli) is the southern most breeding mammal in the world. He can reach 3 metres in length and 400 kg in weight.
• Birds
  This section contains information about the variety of bird species found in the Polar Regions.
  • Albatrosses
    • Black-browed Albatross
      The Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) can live to 70 years of age and is on of the most endangered bird species.
    • Grey-headed Albatross
      The Grey-headed Albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) lives to about 36 years of age which is relatively your by Albatross standards.
    • Sooty Albatross
      The Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata) is a huge bird, with a wingspan of 70 cm. Just as their name states, they are sooty gray.
    • Southern Royal Albatross
      Southern Royal Albatross (Diomedea epomophora) spend 95% of their lives at sea, flying 90% of the time they are over water.
    • Wandering Albatross
    • Waved Albatross
      The waved albatross (Diomedea irrorata) have a wingspan of over two meters, and can live up to 45 years of age.
  • Fulmars, Shearwaters and Sheathbills
    • Great Shearwater
    • Lesser Sheathbill
    • Little Shearwater
    • Snowy Sheathbill
    • Sooty Shearwater
    • Southern Fulmar
  • Gulls
    • Kelp Gull
      The Kelp Gull or Dominican Gull (Larus dominicanus) is the only gull commonly seen in Antarctica.
  • Penguins
    This section contains information about the Penguin species
    • Adele Penguin
    • Chinstrap Penguin
    • Emperor Penguin
    • Gentoo Penguin
    • King Penguin
    • Macaroni Penguin
    • Rockhopper Penguin
    • Royal Penguin
  • Petrels and Prions
    • Antarctic Petrel
      The Antarctic Petrel spends the Antarctic winter at sea near the pack ice edge, returning the continent to breed in the summer.
    • Black-bellied Storm petrel
    • Blue Petrel
      The Blue Petrel (Halobaena caerulea) flies over all the seas from the temperate latitudes along the coasts of Africa, Australia and South America to near the Antarctic continent.
    • Broad-billed Prion
    • Cape Petrel
      The Cape Petrel (Daption capense) have a circumpolar distribution that ranges from the subtropics to the edge of the Antarctic continent.
    • Common Diving Petrel
      Common Diving Petrel’s (Pelecanoides urinatrix) nest on coastal plains and slopes on cliff edges and behind stable dunes.
    • Fairy Prion
    • Fulmar Prion
      The Fulmar Prion (Pachyptila crassirostris) has a large global population estimated to be 200,000 individuals
    • Great winged Petrel
      The Great winged Petrel (Pterodroma macroptera) breed in scattered pairs or small colonies in self-excavated burrows.
    • Grey backed Storm petrel
    • Grey Petrel
      The Grey Petrel (Procellaria cinerea) are not seriously affected by commercial fishing, but have suffered high losses from predation.
    • Grey-backed Storm Petrel
      The grey-backed storm petrel has ash-grey upperparts and white underparts, and feeds mainly on planktonic crustaceans, small squid and fish.
    • Kerguelen Petrel
      The Kerguelen Petrel (Lugensa brevirostris) is uniformly dark on the upper parts and slightly lighter below, with plumage so shiny that it appears to have white or silvery patches on it.
    • Mottled Petrel
      The Mottled Petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata) is highly pelagic, rarely approaching land, except to nest and rear young.
    • Narrow-Billed Prion
    • Snow Petrel
      Snow Petrels (Pagodroma nivea) are circumpolar, nesting extensively on the Southern continent and on some of the islands in high latitudes.
    • Soft-plumaged Petrel
      The Soft-plumaged petrel (Pterodroma mollis) is mostly dark above and white on the breast and belly.
    • South Georgia Diving petrel
    • Southern Giant Petrel
      Another name given to Southern Giant Petrels is “stinker”, which comes from their ability to spit (with accuracy) a blob of oil and food at their attacker.
    • White Headed Petrel
      The White-headed Petrel (Pterodroma lessonii) has a white head and underbody that contrast with the dark underwings.
    • White-bellied Storm Petrel
    • White-chinned Petrel
      The White-chinned Petrel starts breeding in November/December in self-excavated burrows, on well-vegetated slopes and level ground.
    • White-faced Storm-petrel
    • Wilson’s Storm Petrel
      The Wilson’s Storm Petrel is a trans-equatorial migrant, with one of the longest recorded migrations.
  • Skuas and Shaqs (Cormorants)
    • Antarctic Shag
    • Antarctic Skua
    • Imperial Shag
    • Kerguelen Shag
    • South Polar Skua
• Whales
  Although Antarctic whales are the largest Mammals on the planet, they are among the most threatened.
  • Blue Whale
    The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera Musculus) is a streamlined and slender whale, with a small dorsal located about three-quarters of the way along the back.
  • Fin Whale
    The Fin Whale (Balaenoptera Physalus) is found throughout every ocean in the world, from the tropics to the polar regions, but is rarely seen inshore.
  • Humpback Whale
    The Humpback Whale (Megaptera Novaeangliae) is a widely distributed species, occurring seasonally in all oceans from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
  • Killer Whale
    The Killer Whale (Orcinus Orca) is found in all oceans and seas of the world, from the deepest waters to the coast.
  • Minke Whale
    The Minke Whale (Balaenoptera Acutorostrata) is found from the polar ice-edge to the tropics.
  • Sei Whale
    The Sei Whale (Balaenoptera Borealis) is found in virtually every ocean and sea in the world.
  • Southern Bottlenose Whale
    The Southern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon planifrons) is found mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, but have been known to stray as far north as the waters around Hawaii and Japan. They seem to summer around South Africa.
  • Southern Right Whale
    Southern Right Whales (Balaena Glacialis of Australis) are found seasonally around Australia, South Africa, South America and New Zealand.
  • Sperm Whale
    The Sperm Whale (Physeter Macrocephalus) was made famous by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, this is the species most people associate with the word ‘whale’.