Research

Despite the very harsh environment, the Antarctic supports a wide variety of wildlife. The lack of terrestrial vegetation means that there are very few animals that are bound strictly to the land. While on site it was thought that there may have been a few insects or ants present, but few or none were seen. These were the only animals that the terrestrial vegetation of lichens, and waste from larger feeding animals, could support.

The aquatic food chain that supports animals in this biome starts with phytoplancton (floating algae), which is fed on by zooplancton (small floating animals). Krill is the most important form of zooplancton in the food chain. This shrimp-like animal is found in the water in huge schools. It is fed upon by many different whales, fish, penguins and seals.

There are many different animals that do colonize the Antarctic, at different times of the year. Seals migrate from the ice packs in the winter to the beaches in the summer. They form large breeding colonies, where they can be seen basking in the sun, side by side, often in large numbers. The seals found here include Crab Eater Seal, Weddell Seal, Leopard Seal, Fur and Elephant Seal. Small seals like the Crab Eater eat krill and crabs. The Leopard seal will eat penguins. The other seals eat from several food chains, most of which include fish of various sorts.

Penguins, like the seals, migrate to these rookeries for summer breeding. Penguins do have feathers, but they cannot fly in the air. However, they are masterful swimmers, capable of "flying" through the water. They feed on krill and fish from the ocean.

There are several types of penguins in the Antarctic, including Adelaie, Gentoo, Chinstrap and Emperor penguins. Most of them migrate from the pack ice to the shores during breeding season. The Emperor penguin is famous for its interesting nesting behavior. The male keeps the egg on the male's feet, off of the cold ground, and stands over it with its belly covering the egg, to keep it warm. The female goes off to the ocean to feed. She will return to the male and regurgitate food for him to eat. Most penguins make their nests on the rocks, about 20 cm to 40 cm apart from each other. In the image above you can see Gentoo penguins, with a baby, close together on the shore. The lower image shows a Chinstrap penguin on the shore.

Penguins have to be careful of predatory birds that flock around the rookeries. Gulls will eat the eggs and Skuas will try to make off with the chicks and eat them. Penguins also compete for space with cormorants, petrels and ganets.

Click the audio bar below to hear what these Chinstrap penguins sound like in a rookery!

Whales are also found in the oceans off these shores. Minke whales are the smallest. They are a success story, in that their numbers have been increasing lately. Humpback whales can be found here, along with Blue whales.

Blue whales are nifty, in that they are the largest creatures living on the planet earth, yet they feed on tiny krill. Blue whales have baleen in their mouths instead of teeth. Baleen is like a set of very fine filtering combs where we have teeth. They take a huge gulp of sea water and krill, but they do not want to swallow it all, as the sea water would not be healthy to drink (for us or them!). They then open their lips slightly, and force the water back out through their baleen, but they keep their jaws and baleen plates closed so that the krill stay behind in their mouths! They then swallow the krill!

Research/Project Results

Polar Ice Cap Biome:

Antarctic Peninsula,

Antarctica

Page 4

Biotic Site Description: Animal Data