When people ask me about Antarctica, questions on penguins and ice come up a lot, so it is only apt to write a blog post about both of them together. Indeed, this had to be one of my top highlights. It happened towards the end of the expedition, with only a couple of days before we were home bound, so seeing this really made my day and flushed out all the start-of-the-end-of-a-holiday blues.
You often find groups of penguins hanging out on bergs, especially big ones. My guess is they needed a solid platform in the open sea to rest overnight; or to avoid leopard seals that wanted a penguin meal, the little fellas needed somewhere to camp out. Or maybe, they were just chilling out for the weekend, have a nice sun bathe. I prefer the latter, it's cuter. Whatever the reason though, there they were, two groups of gentoos on a horseshoe shaped berg (two seemingly distinct icebergs above water but actually connected underneath).
I don't think they were the biggest fan of boats or humans though.
The group that was camping on the larger but thinner berg was already on the way down to the bottom of the ridge ready to go fishing again, but they spotted us as we approached and made a very quick collective decision - head back up the ridge as fast as they could. In fact it was probably one penguin's decision and everyone else just followed. Penguins are very much like sheep in this respect.
And so they ran and scrambled and jumped and flapped and crawled. Part of me felt a bit bad - our presence was clearly disturbing their peace - but it was also very comical. Oh well, they have their revenge on me every time I get their shit on my boots and clothes and have to scrub it off! The closest we got was when we sailed in between the horseshoe, by which point the gentoos decided it was best to stay put to see what would happen next.
The Fleece circled the berg a couple of times and every time we sailed to the other side of the berg, our little friends would run in the opposite direction, up and down the ice ridge. They did take the opportunity to jump into the water eventually, when our attention turned to the group on the smaller but flatter berg...
There was only about 6 or 7 fellas left on this berg by the time we closed in on them (for no other purpose but to shoot, photos that is). As they got to the edge which was about 2m high, you could see the leader's brain ticking, quickly assessing the situation, the risks and all the possible outcomes of the decision he's about to make or not make.
He looked back at the group, perhaps for a democratic vote, or an approval, but more likely to see if they had any alternative suggestions. Then, as if they conferred telepathically (there definitely wasn't any open debate), the leader walked up to the edge and jumped, followed by the second, the third, the fourth...
Finally, the fella at the back of the queue walked up to the edge, looked down into the water and stopped. It's too high, he said. Now it was me who was having a telepathic conversation with him. He turned back and walked away from the edge. For a long time he was walking around all by himself, and his friends long gone.
Eric Carmen's All By Myself came to mind...
You often find groups of penguins hanging out on bergs, especially big ones. My guess is they needed a solid platform in the open sea to rest overnight; or to avoid leopard seals that wanted a penguin meal, the little fellas needed somewhere to camp out. Or maybe, they were just chilling out for the weekend, have a nice sun bathe. I prefer the latter, it's cuter. Whatever the reason though, there they were, two groups of gentoos on a horseshoe shaped berg (two seemingly distinct icebergs above water but actually connected underneath).
I don't think they were the biggest fan of boats or humans though.
The group that was camping on the larger but thinner berg was already on the way down to the bottom of the ridge ready to go fishing again, but they spotted us as we approached and made a very quick collective decision - head back up the ridge as fast as they could. In fact it was probably one penguin's decision and everyone else just followed. Penguins are very much like sheep in this respect.
And so they ran and scrambled and jumped and flapped and crawled. Part of me felt a bit bad - our presence was clearly disturbing their peace - but it was also very comical. Oh well, they have their revenge on me every time I get their shit on my boots and clothes and have to scrub it off! The closest we got was when we sailed in between the horseshoe, by which point the gentoos decided it was best to stay put to see what would happen next.
The Fleece circled the berg a couple of times and every time we sailed to the other side of the berg, our little friends would run in the opposite direction, up and down the ice ridge. They did take the opportunity to jump into the water eventually, when our attention turned to the group on the smaller but flatter berg...
There was only about 6 or 7 fellas left on this berg by the time we closed in on them (for no other purpose but to shoot, photos that is). As they got to the edge which was about 2m high, you could see the leader's brain ticking, quickly assessing the situation, the risks and all the possible outcomes of the decision he's about to make or not make.
He looked back at the group, perhaps for a democratic vote, or an approval, but more likely to see if they had any alternative suggestions. Then, as if they conferred telepathically (there definitely wasn't any open debate), the leader walked up to the edge and jumped, followed by the second, the third, the fourth...
Finally, the fella at the back of the queue walked up to the edge, looked down into the water and stopped. It's too high, he said. Now it was me who was having a telepathic conversation with him. He turned back and walked away from the edge. For a long time he was walking around all by himself, and his friends long gone.
Eric Carmen's All By Myself came to mind...
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