With its 14 million square kilometres of wildness, Antarctica is the most isolated continent on the planet. It is the fifth largest of the seven continents. Antarctica is also the world driest, windiest, highest and coldest continent on the planet. Temperatures of the high inland region fall below -80°C in winter and rise only to -30°C in summer. 98% of Antarctica is covered by permanent ice with an average thickness of 2.4 metres and maximum of 4.7 metres. This region has some seven million cubic miles of ice which represents about 90% of the world ice. Click here to read more about Antarctica.
Antarctica is divided in two regions East Antarctica and West Antarctica. There is practically no permanent human population and although seven Nations have officially claimed territory in Antarctica (Argentina, Australia, Britain, Chile, France, New Zealand and Norway), the region is not registered by any of them. Since 1961 an International Agreement has been put into place in order to preserve the continent for peaceful scientific studies and to form a legal framework for the Nations activities: The Antarctic treaty.
Vegetal species
There are about 350 species of flora in Antarctica. Among those we can find lichens, mosses fungi and algae. They usually grow on or even sometime inside the rocks. Some of these and specifically algae are mostly consumed by Krill which is one of the most important elements of the Antarctica food chain. To find out more about vegetal species,click here .
Animal species
Insects:
Krill, shrimps like creature are the main food for a vast majority of species such as: penguins, seals and many sea birds.We can only find about 70
species of insects. Most of them are parasites that live in the fur of
various animals such as the seals.
Sea birds:
Various species of bird go to Antarctica but only about twelve live and breed in the region. Most of the bird species in Antarctica are pelagic birds (which feed at the open sea) and the remaining species are shore birds. They are well adapted to the environment they live in: they have developed features that help conserve body heat.
The most prominent inhabitant of the Antarctica, the Penguin. This flightless bird lives on the pack ice and in the oceans around Antarctica and spends half of it's time in the water. Penguins which are great swimmers feed themselves on small fish, krill, and other crustaceans. They live in community and move around in very large group. Penguins are often the prey of Antarctic predators such as the Killer whales and the leopard seals. If you would like to read more about bird species click here.
Whales:
Usually only present on the warmer seasons, like many other pecies in Antarctica, Wales feed on Krills, and other sea creatures. Wales can be divided in two groups, the baleen whales which can sometime reach 24 meters and weight 84 tonnes and the toothed whales which can reach 15 meters long and weight 40 tonnes. Read more...
Seals:
Seals population is divided into two main types: the eared seals (Otariidae) and the true seals (Phocidae). Six species of seals live in this region: Elephant seal, Weddell seal, Crabeater seal, Antarctic fur Seal, Leopard seal, Ross seal. Most of them are from the family of true seals. Certain species can reach 4.5 metres and weigh 4000 kilograms. They catch most of their pray under water were they can remain between 15 and 30 minutes without coming back to the surface. Except for common water colours such as green and blue seals don't see many colours and mainly use their sonar and whiskers (a form of radar) for navigation and locating their food.
Seals also spend some time on ice flow or land where they give birth and raise their young. Most of seals do not fear humans. Some species even attack humans without noticeable provocation. Species such as the Leopard seal are able to chase their pray at a speed of 25 miles (40 km) per hour.
Have a look at these following web pages to see how the different species of seals look like:
To find out more about Penguins, Birds, Seals and Whales, log on to: the wildlife page of antarcticconnection.com you can even hear how they sound like!
Certain species can reach 4.5 metres and weigh 4000 kilograms. They catch most of their pray under water were they can remain between 15 and 30 minutes without coming back to the surface. Except for common water colours such as green and blue seals don't see many colours and mainly use their sonar and whiskers (a form of radar) for navigation and locating their food.
