Antarctica’s wonderful wildlife

From gentoo, macaroni and king penguins, to giant petrels, elephant seals, pintail ducks and both sooty & wandering albatrosses, South Georgia is an important wildlife haven. 

We have two research stations here – Bird Island and King Edward Point.  

First stop – Bird Island.

As the name suggests, Bird Island is home to lots of (you guessed it) birds! Researchers live here year-round, researching albatrosses, penguins and seals.

Bird Island is also home to our famous penguin weighbridge. As the macaroni penguins from the Little Mac penguin colony cross the bridge between their home and the sea, they are counted and weighed. This tells researchers how much the penguins are eating and, by extension, how the creatures they eat (mainly krill and fish) are faring. 

P-p-p-p-p peek at a penguin

There are six species of penguin we might see in and around the Antarctic. King penguins live on the more northerly subantarctic islands. Chinstrap, gentoo and macaroni penguins can be found on South Georgia, but breed on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Only the emperor and Adélie make the Antarctic continent their true home. 

Penguins stand on ice for hours and hours, but they have clever ways of keeping their feet the right temperature (a few degrees above freezing!) They’re well designed to keep warm – they have a thick layer of fat and overlapping feathers to keep the water out, with fluffy feathers underneath for warmth. In fact, penguins are so good at keeping warm, they have a problem with overheating in the summer months! 

King Edward Point 

At King Edward Point, researchers focus on marine and fisheries research. Again, researchers live here all year – in the winter months, there are often only four people here. This island station is owned by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and British Antarctic Survey look after and run it on their behalf.  

At this time of year, the team are doing seal rounds and gentoo penguin checks.  

Lots of the data we collect from King Edward Point is reported to something called the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, known as CCAMLR. CCAMLR is an international body that is responsible for conserving and managing the Southern Ocean’s marine life and ecosystem.

The information gathered by researchers is used to help CCAMLR decide on how best to protect this vibrant ocean – for example, how much fishing can happen.  

A whale-y good story

Some of the other amazing animals we see around South Georgia are WHALES! Spotting your first (or even hundredth) whale is a really special moment on your journey South.  

During the long journey to Antarctica, lots of the crew and scientists can be found looking out the windows with a pair of binoculars, looking for whales.

There used to be tens of thousands of whales in these waters, but they were hunted to near extinction by whalers.

However, our scientists have discovered that, slowly but surely, whale populations are recovering. In fact, researchers think there might be nearly 25,000 humpback whales feeding in the waters around South Georgia! 

Researchers use lots of different techniques to learn more about these iconic animals – they use drones and small boats to take photos, use satellites to track them, take samples of their skin, and analyse pictures taken over many decades.

Whales are generally only found in and around South Georgia in the summer months – it’s much too cold for them in the winter. They come back in the spring and swim along the retreating ice edge where they can find lots of tasty krill to eat.  

At the moment, some of our researchers are working on a project called Hungry Humpbacks. They’ve been working out how these huge whales are affecting the numbers of krill found around South Georgia. Krill may be small (around 6cm long) but they’re mighty! They’re a really important part of the Antarctic food chain so knowing how many there are in the ocean is really important.