The great white continent is one and half the size of the United States. It also has a population of around 800 people at any given time. Antarctica is an inhospitable place and very few species live in the middle of the continent. It is 1600 kilometres from the pole to the outer edge of ice. There are winds of 190 kilometres an hour. Antarctica is completely remote form all other continents. Antarctica is the 2nd biggest bordered landmass. Antarctica's total land mass is just under 14 million square kilometres. Antarctica also supplies three quarters of the world's fresh water.
There is ice 5 kilometres deep on the continent. As ice falls off the outer edges of the continent, it forms icebergs. Only one fifth of the continent is above the water line. In the winter, Antarctica doubles in size, trapping many of the icebergs that have only carved from the continent a few weeks earlier. A few icebergs always manage to evade winter's grasp. As bubbles rise they form crevasses in the ice, creating complex and wonderful patterns. With so little life in the centre of the continent those species that do live here rely on the sea to survive. This includes millions of penguins and seals which dwell on the ice but swim in the the ocean to feed. The primary source of food in Antarctica is a tiny crustacean called krill. Swarms of billions of these krill can be found making it one of the most abundant creature on the planet. To evade predators these swarms of krill scatter making them hard to catch. Whales use a clever trick to get them together. Whales make a spiral of bubbles so that the krill are trapped in the centre and can be scooped up by the whales. Some sea birds that can only dive a few metres, so use this time to feast on these krill as they are driven to the surface by the whales. Some flying sea birds only go to land to breed, so most of their lives are spent out on the wing. The Wandering Albatross, a majestic creature with a wingspan of up to 3 metres can fly thousands of kilometers with out stopping. King penguins breed throughout the year. Penguins live in large colonies and some penguin colonies can have 2 million penguins. Penguin breeding groups are called rookeries. Some rookeries can have 20 thousand newly hatched penguin offspring called chicks. Penguins can reproduce every 3 years. Penguin courtship involves a duet between the penguins to seal the deal of mating. Penguins wash when they go out to sea. King Penguins live on the islands and icebergs outside the skirt of winter. This skirt is the area of land/ice of the continent that increase during winter how Antarctica expands twice as far. With this increased space these penguins don't have to worry about overcrowding during winter. |
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But as life in the freezer can be extreme due to the conditions then death in the freezer is also different. A more unusual death is harder to imagine than when it comes from a ice finger extending down to touch these sea stars and freezing them underwater.
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