Petermann
Island |
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Petermann
Island is the southernmost stop on our expedition, and after this stop,
we would start heading north again, back to Ushuaia. The island is located
at 65? 10’ S. We were still 1,490 nautical miles from the South
Pole. |
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On our Zodiac ride into the island, we spotted a Leopard seal (Hydrurga
leptonyx). These seals are the only seal in the Antarctic that
eats warm-blooded prey. The prey includes penguins and young seals.
They also have a prominent dentition that acts like a sieve and allows
them to strain krill from the water. |
| When attacking a penguin,
the seal grabs the bird, shakes it violently, removes the skin and eats
the meat of the penguin. When walking along the beaches of some of our
landings, we sometimes came across the skins and feet of penguins that
had fallen victim to the Leopard seal. Picture by Amanda. |
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Once we
landed on Petermann Island we were introduced to the last of the penguin
species that we would see on this trip, the Adelie penguin (Aptenodytes
forsteri). This is the “stereotypical” penguin, with
the black head and back, and white chest. This species is a bit smaller
then the other species we had seen already. Even so, they were equally
entertaining. |
| The
Adelie penguin on the left appears a bit bloated from a recent trip
to the all-you-can-eat krill buffet. |
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Given
the abundance of snow this year, the plan to study plants on our trip
was more or less cancelled. This is one of the few flowering plants
we saw while on the trip. |
