The Circle of Life in South Georgia and Antarctica - Penguins, Seals and Others

Warning: this post contains explicit content some readers may find disturbing.

Looking back at the expedition now, one thing that surprises me is how the most extraordinary things were so simple and ordinary in the wilderness.

Life and death should be extraordinary events in our city lives. I mean, how many of you witness death, even for animals, on a regular basis? I certainly haven't seen a dying or dead animal (except for that time when I hit a badger, or at least I think it was a badger, at 70mph). Yet, when we saw injured, dying or dead animals in Antarctica, it was just so natural, so matter of course.

Each of the animals in this post had their own stories. They may not be the same stories as what I am telling here. Nevertheless, they each deserve a few words, and a moment of our appreciation. Appreciation for the gift of life, and all the opportunities and responsibilities that come with it.

Nature can sometimes be very real and in your face. We came across this gentoo on our first day in South Georgia. It was quite clear that he would not heal from the wound without any help. And there was no help we could give, other than possibly killing it to put it out of its misery. It was only a matter of hours, perhaps a day, before he became too weak to defend against infection, or the giant petrel that was perched waiting only metres away.

Our expedition in Feb/Mar 2013 coincided with South Georgia's cull of all reindeer on the island. Originally an invasive species introduced by the Norwegians over 100 years ago, their recent explosion in numbers caused by a decline in the human population and hunting on the island. This has in turned caused a number of problems to the local flora and fauna. Ironically the high profile cull was carried out by professionals hired from Norway.

We came across reindeer carcasses almost every day. This one had most of its meat stripped out, organs removed, leaving behind the skeleton, a pool of blood, and a bullet hole.

Sometimes the reindeer is just left, to the delight of scavenger skuas.

 

Derelict whaling stations scatter across South Georgia. Most of them are closed to the public due to risk of asbestos. The only one that was open to us was in Gryvitken. These vats were used to boil the whale blubber to extract whale oil, once the giant whales were carved up...

A photo found in the Gryvitken museum depicting the process of skinning and carving a whale using a range of tools once it was taken back to the station.

There were lots of fascinating history in the museum. In order to make the process of hunting whales more efficient, whaling ships harpooned a floater and a tracking device into the whale so they could keep it afloat and track it later while they move on to make another kill, and so on, until the end of the day when they return to tow them all back to base.

A set of whale bones found at Port Lockroy in the Antarctica Peninsula.

Two gentoo chicks seeking warmth from their mother. It was with almost certainty that the smaller one will not survive. Winter is looming and it just isn't big enough to survive the cold, nor is it able to compete with the older sibling for meals from the parents.

Dead penguin = good meal for scavenger skuas

Just to end on a slightly happier note, this is how they make little penguins.