The farthest-south living animal is a pink mite. It measures around 1/100 of an inch in length. This little critter that looks a lot like a spider likes to eat algae and fungi. A Hawaiian museum entomologist located this mite only a short time ago, as close as 309 miles to the South Pole.This same scientist also found lichens only 266 miles from the Pole. That’s as close to the Pole as life has ever been found.
Insects and their family are the only animals that can stay on Antarctica all year long. A recent magazine article reported this. To find the over 56 species of arthropods that live on Antarctica, you’ll need some kind of magnification. One insect you could easily see is about the size of a common horsefly. It’s a wingless fly. When the temperature finally gets to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the melting point of water, the dormant animals are reactivated. You will find info on cruise to Antarctica by visiting that site.
While the continent itself is barren and lifeless, there are all manner of animals traversing the Antarctic oceans, like the giant blue whale, which dwarfs every other living creature.Wanting to learn more about life in the ocean, scientist submerged a six by four foot capsule. As they took turns, the scientists watched the sea life around them through six windows. They even included a hydrophone so that they could hear what was going on in the water around them.
While there weren’t many fish in the sea, a 30 foot long jellyfish was detected.A near-by air hole drew many seals to the chamber area. There were constantly seals checking out the scientists. The hydrophone gave scientists that chance to hear the seals; they chirped, whistled, buzzed and beeped. The sounds they were recording were unlike any the scientists had heard in the past.
Without these sounds, Weddell seals may be unable to get around in the dark waters, or to communicate with each other. The deep dark waters of the Antarctic may cause the Weddell seals to rely on sonar to find food and places to surface for air. Analysis of the seal sounds is being performed in the Antarctic.Because they are outside our hearing range, some of the sounds can’t be detected by humans. If you are in search of info don’t forget to view this resource Antarctic cruise reviews.
Scientists don’t know yet how the Weddell seals make the sounds. Underwater, both their mouths and nostrils are tightly sealed. Scientists have used depth gauges to track seals to depths of 1,500 feet. This is a record for all mammals. One seal was seen to stay underwater for over 28 minutes before surfacing. A sample of mother seals milk was procured by one lucky zoologist. The high fat content, much more than human milk, allows seal pups to be the fastest weight-gainers of all mammals. It only takes newborn seals six weeks to increase its weight by five times.
The Antarctic seas were probed by scientists in frogman diving suits. They even found red, among other colored, seaweed growing on the sea floor. Five foot long worms, four foot sponges and big red and white starfish were also there.
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