What Types Of Animals Live In Antarctica

Antarctica is the coldest and most inhospitable continent on planet Earth. In fact, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -90 ºC at Antarctica's Vostok station. Reverse to this intense cold , at that place are also relatively warm regions in Antarctica, such as the Antarctic Peninsula, where temperatures tin reach effectually 0 ºC. Simply not only is Antarctica a fascinating place geographically, but zoologically too!

Would you lot similar to observe out more about Antarctica'due south enchanting animal and flaura? If so, this AnimalWised article is for yous. Keep reading here and discover our full list of Antarctic animals, facts and more than!

Animals in Antarctica

Antarctic animate being adaption to temperature stress are governed, primarily, by two rules. The start rule, Allen's rule, states that endoderm animals are more ''rounded and compact''. The second dominion, Bergmann's dominion, states that with the intention to regulate heat loss, animals that live very cold areas are larger in size in comparison to those that live in warmer climates. For case, penguins that live in the southward pole are larger than tropical penguins^[1].

To survive this freezing climate, Antarctic and Arctic animals have adapted over time with an accumulation of large amounts of fat under the peel to avoid heat loss. These animals either have incredibly thick skin or dense hair with an insulating layer, which allow them to retain well-needed oestrus.

During the colder winter seasons, some animals, specially birds, migrate to warmer areas.

Antarctica facts

Animals that alive in Antarctica are mainly aquatic, such as seals, penguins, other birds and some marine invertebrates and cetaceans.

Some of the almost common examples of Antarctic animals and plants, which we will be discussing in particular, include:

• Emperor penguin
• Krill
• Leopard seal
• Weddell seal
• Crabeater Seal
• Ross seal
• Antarctic Petrel

Facts nigh Antarctica

You may exist wondering, what about polar bears? A common misconception, largely due to fiction and movies, is that polar bears and penguins live together. This, however, could not be farther from the truth. Polar bears live in the Arctic (only), while penguins live Antarctica. But, why are there no polar bears in Antarctic? Antarctica is surrounded past water and there are no terrestrial predators present. In addition, due to the fact that polar bears are descendants of the North American brown bear, there would have been no geographical mode in which they could've reached the due south pole, specially because they would take struggled to survive the warm tropics on the style. Penguins would also feel farthermost difficulty surviving the Chill. Not only would they autumn prey to hungry polar bears, only their feeding and breeding requirements would be largely affected. For more, we recommend reading our article where we discover fascinating Arctic animal facts.

In addition, did you know that when it comes to plants in Antarctica, there are no trees or shrubs. Only two species of flowering plant are found in Antarctica:

• Antarctic hair grass
• Antarctic pearlworth

The rest of the antarctic plants are made up of algae, mosses, liverworts and microscopic fungi.

But, which is the largest beast in Antarctica? Strangely enough, the largest land animal in Antarctica is the flightless antarctic midge (Belgica antarctica), which is less than i.3cm in length, crazy right!?

1. Emperor penguin

Commencement on tour list of antarctic animal facts is the Emperor penguin Antarctica (Aptenodytes forsteri), endemic to Antarctica. The emperor penguin Antarctica, due to a major decrease in population as a result of climatic change, are classified as 'well-nigh threatened.' In addition, they are both the tallest and heaviest of all penguin species.

Emperor penguins mainly feed on Antarctic ocean fish, but are also known to consume krill and cephalopods. They have an annual reproduction bike whereby colonies are formed betwixt March and April. Did y'all know that emperor penguins are monogamous? Meaning that they only choose one mate per mating season. Once the eggs have been laid, they are passed to the male for an incubation menstruum while the female returns back to sea to feed.

For more about penguins, we recommend reading our article where nosotros talk over, ''Where do penguins live?''

2. Krill

Although non an antarctic 'beast' per se, we cannot leave out the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) from this list of antarctic animals. The Antarctic krill forms the base of food for the entire Antarctic food web. This small malacostraca crustacean lives in swarms of more than than ten kilometers in length. Its distribution is circumpolar, although its largest populations are found in the South Atlantic, near the Antarctic Peninsula.

Did you know that krills can shrink in size when they feel threatened, and when eaten by penguins, can turn their poop pinkish?

iii. Leopard seal

Leopards seal Antarctica (Hydrurga leptonyx) are distributed along the Antarctic and subantarctic waters. Leopard seal females are larger than males, reaching up to 500 kilograms of weight. The young ordinarily are unremarkably birthed on the ice between November and December and are weaned at only 4 weeks of historic period.

Leopard seals are solitary animals and couples copulate on sea ice between November and march. Leopard seals are famous for being great penguin hunters but they too feed on krill, other seals, fish, cephalopods, etc. An amazing fact about this Antarctic seal is that they 'sing' underwater, not much is known about this 'singing' but information technology is said to exist linked to breeding.

If you observe seals as interesting as nosotros do, nosotros recommend reading our article where we list the different types of seals around the world.

4. Weddell seal

Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) have circumpolar distribution throughout the Antarctic Sea. Some alone individuals, however, accept been spotted on the Southward African coast, New Zealand or Due south Australia.

As in the previous example, weddell seal females are larger than the males, although their weight fluctuates drastically in convenance season. These antarctic animals brood in seasonal ice or on land, which allows for colonies to grade and return each year to the same place for mating.

One of the virtually incredible weddel seal facts is that they live on seasonal ice, making holes with their ain teeth to admission water. This habit does, however, cause rapid teeth habiliment which tin shorten a seal's life expectancy.

5. Crabeater Seal

The presence or absence of crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) in the Antarctic continent largely depends on the fluctuations of the seasonal water ice. Crabeater seals, also known as the krill-eater, are the nigh social of all Antarctic seals and alive in the pack-ice zone which surrounds Antarctica.

Crabeater seals, contrary to what their name may suggest, practice not really feed on crab. A crabeater'southward nutrition is fabricated up of 95% krill. Some other fun crabeater seal fact is that one of its main predators has really already been mentioned on this antarctic animals list, do y'all know which ane it may be? Yes, the leopard seal!

6. Ross seal

Another of the seals on this Antarctic animals listing is the Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii), distributed in a circumpolar way throughout the Antarctic continent.

These seals are the smallest of the 4 Antarctic seal species, weighing only 216 kilograms. Ross seal individuals can spend several months in the open body of water without ever approaching land. Ross seals are a monogamous seal species that well-nigh never exit the Southern ocean.

Image: www.earth.com

7. Antarctic Petrel

The Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica) are distributed along the entire container coastline, forming part of the Antarctic fauna. Antarctic petrel can, however, occasionally exist seen in Australian and New Zealand, although not very common.

Antarctic petrel feed mainly on krill and other crustaceans.

Antarctica animals: facts

All the these Antarctic animals are linked, one style or another, to the ocean. Other animals which brand up our antarctic animals list include:

• Alcyonacea (Gorgonians)
• Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarctica)
• Antarctic starry skate (Amblyraja georgiana)
• Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata)
• Antarctic prion (Pachyptila desolata)
• Antarctic Minke whale or Southern mink whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis)
• Southern sleeper shark (Somniosus antarcticus)
• Southern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides)
• Brown skua or Antarctic skua (Stercorarius antarcticus)
• Antarctic horsefish (Zanclorhynchus spinifer)

Antarctic animals: endangered

Co-ordinate to the IUCN (International Marriage for Conservation of Nature), at that place are several animals in danger of extinction in Antarctica. The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia)is a critically a endangered Antarctic species that has decreased 97% from 1926.

Additional Antarctic endangered animals include:

• Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria fusca): this species is endangered due to commercial fishing, loss of habitat, predators and pollution.
• Northern purple albatross (Diomedea sanfordi): is currently classified as endangered due to extreme storms caused by climate change.
• Grey-headed Boundness (Talasarche chrysostoma): In the terminal 90 years there has been a rapid charge per unit of decline amidst this species caused by climate change and commercial fishing.

For more, nosotros recommend reading our article where we list the x animals in danger of extinction in the globe.

If you want to read similar manufactures to Animals in Antarctica List, we recommend you visit our Facts nearly the animal kingdom category.

References

Bibliography

• BirdLife International 2018. Aptenodytes forsteri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: east.T22697752A132600320.
• BirdLife International 2018. Diomedea sanfordi. The IUCN Scarlet Listing of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22728323A132656392.
• BirdLife International 2018. Phoebetria fusca. La Lista Roja de Especies Amenazadas 2018 de la UICN: e.T22698431A132645596.
• BirdLife International 2018. Thalassoica antarctica. La Lista Roja de Especies Amenazadas 2018 de la UICN : e.T22697875A132610289.
• BirdLife International 2018. Thalassarche crisostoma. La Lista Roja de Especies Amenazadas 2018 de la UICN: e.T22698398A132644834.
• Cooke, J.M. 2018. Balaenoptera musculus ssp. intermedia. The IUCN Cherry List of Threatened Species 2018: due east.T41713A50226962.
• Hückstädt, L. 2015. Hydrurga leptonyx. La Lista Roja de Especies Amenazadas de la UICN 2015: east.T10340A45226422.
• Hückstädt, L. 2015. Lobodon carcinophaga. La Lista Roja de Especies Amenazadas de la UICN 2015: east.T12246A45226918.
• Hückstädt, L. 2015. Ommatophoca rossii. The IUCN Red Listing of Threatened Species 2015: eastward.T15269A45228952.

Source: https://www.animalwised.com/animals-in-antarctica-list-3110.html

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