DEAR ALL,
ATTACHED REPORT ON “LOW CARBON LIFESTYLE” IS VERY GOOD INFORMATION. PL. READ IT.
A MUST READ PRESENTATION.
SOMEBODY HAS PUT SO MUCH EFFORT IN COLLECTING THE DATA.
ATLEAST WE CAN READ & FOLLOW IT TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, SO THAT WE CAN PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT.
HAVE A GREAT DAY.
ATTENBOROUGH’S LIFE IN THE FREEZER 6
Life in the Freezer – Footsteps In The Snow
Creepy opening. Feet taking steps, door creeks open, cabin full of wood cartons, camera looks around, gloved hand reaches for canned food and turn to see label and return in place. Ok not that creepy. The camera does a close up on all the stuff around. Supplies, clothing and gear. Ah, it’s the hut in Cape Evans where Captain Scott and his crew spent the winter in 1911. Everything is as it was since. Picture of the crew at a long table on Scott’s birthday. They were waiting for the sun to appear to start their trek to the pole. Picture of someone at a piano? PIANO?! Shot of table with all sorts of chemistry instruments. And a well equipped lab. Well that was their main mission… study as much as they could. Meteorology too. Oh wow… pioneer of polar photography Robert Ponting was there too! While these guys were waiting, there was a Norwegian team racing for the pole too.
November 1st, Robert and team head 800miles to the pole. Wearing wool and cotton clothes, using long wooden skis with single bindings and transporting food and equipment on sledges, which they pulled themselves. While Emenson and crew (Norwegian team) used dogs. So not only did they reach 35 days after the Norwegians, they also died. Died from starvation and freezing conditions. 80 years later conditions are better. Clothes that keep you warm, satellites to communicate and navigate and there’s a daily flight to the pole. (Ever seen a plane on skis?)
Captain Scott marched for 79 days to get to the pole, David boasts that his plane will do the same in 3 hours. David is impressed by the distance and difficult terrain that Scott had to go through. Scott used motor sledge, ponies and dogs but after 409 miles he abandoned them. After that 4 men hauled the sledge… divided they hauled 90 kilos. Shot of them slipping around while walking. The decision of not taking the dogs was their undoing. On reaching the pole they found an empty Norwegian tent, only with a note to the king of Norwegia… I mean Norway, should Emenson fail to return. Upon reaching the pole and seeing the Norwegian flag, Scott wrote “Great God, this is an awful place”. Picture of 5 disappointed gentlemen at the pole.
Over to shot of domes and structures. The entrance tunnel is amazing. Imagine a giant igloo. 100 scientists and support staff will live and work in this dome. In the dome there are more buildings. Supplies are flown in. Engines have to be kept running. (Yawn) The fuel is stored in vast bladders to help the station throughout the year.
The south pole is the best place to study the heavens above. Atmosphere is clear and free of pollution, stars don’t disappear beyond the horizon. Special scientists are needed, as in they have to know how to shovel snow and start a diesel engine. Most stations are built on the edge of the continent or on terrain. Shot of Emperor Penguins. Once the peeps are shut in they wont see a living crew for 6 more months. No morning, no evening, no escape! The cook is one of the most critically watched members. Most places have at least a years reserve of supply in case of emergencies and most also have another building fully stocked with food in case of a fire. Ah just went I was about to fall asleep with this episode… a hardly seen shot of the sun skimming beyond the horizon. Imagine Knightrider’s light. Once it drops there will be no more sunlight for 37 days. Sounds of people clapping at this fact. Oh it’s a party, people in fancy dress. Entertainments practiced in secret are performed in public. Harmonica players, drunk sing-along-ers. Gorgeous shots of the Aurora Australis (Southern lights).
As the sun returns so do the Adele Penguins. The colony gathers near one of the stations. A wired fence counts and weighs them as they cross it. Some are caught in a black butterfly net for closer inspection. Beaks measured and chest graffiti-ed. Don’t worry it’ll disappear in the next moulting and their companions do not lose affection just coz of the new tattoo. Gangsta shot of flatland/ice with dogs, sledge, people and some gangsta ice mountain/cliffs in the background. David says the dogs are ecological aliens so its been decided that they must go. Then he goes on to say they’re great companions and best detectors of major hazards… snow covered crevasses. The team on the screen will be sent to Minnesota, USA. They well be replaced by motorised quaiks? (Quad bikes?) So, what used to take 2 days now takes 3 hours but they’re limited on the fuel they can carry.
Funny shot of penguins being tackled like they were playing American football. Human runs and dives for one… Oh, it slips away… and again… and again. Slippery fellas. They catch it, bag it, spray it and tag it with a transmitter and will be monitored in a station in Tasmania. After this the penguin continues its 100 mile march to open water. To dive up to 450 meters to catch fish! Shot of gliding Greyheaded Albatross with a transmitter too. Revealing where it collected it food and where it’s gonna feed it’s hungry chick. WHICH belongs to a colony that has been studied for the past 15 years by a British team. Before they were weighted using a typical scale but now it’s been camouflaged as a nest. (Latest technology!) The scales transmit a reading every 10 minutes to a nearby hut with a watching scientist. (Freak) But it shows the parent brings 500 grams of seafood to the chick every 3 days. And the adult has travelled several hundred miles to do so. Several? All this equipment and you give me several!?
Now they got ships following the Albatross to see just what they did to catch the seafood. To do this you need camera, lenses and cameramen to deal with these hostile conditions. Note: Hostile conditions means crazy waves and winds. Shot of cameraman swimming in freezing waters with the albatross. The reward is sights never seen. Then you got the remotely controlled cameras attached to inflatable. One of their priorities was to find a swarm of krill. The crew found them and so did a pair of humpback whales. This has been detailed in the first episode. Another smaller ship (they look more like sailboats) was doing its thing elsewhere… could only go on shallow waters coz of the keel, places no other vessel had been before. Some dude and his biologist wife on the ‘ship’ have been exploring every cove, bay and peninsula for 10 seasons. They set up camps and cameras in different places. They even got a camera on a jib arm! So that’s how they got the high angle and moving close ups. Imagine carrying around 120 kilos mostly of a long ass pole. Other guys on steady cams. (This things are mad heavy and you strap on a body harness so the shooting is steady)
They wanna get shots diving under the ice but the weathers frozen the entrance to the gear. Once they do dive under the ice imagine ice tunnels with faded silver linings of light. You only hear the winds roaring above the ice. Then you got this metal shaft with a bubble in the middle where you can observe all this. Record sounds like from seals, movements, etc. The seal has those puppy dog eyes. Others observe Emperor Penguins elsewhere. A cage is dropped into a waterhole so the cameraman is protected. Coz where there are penguins, theres Leopard Seals and Killer Whales. Shots of penguins shooting out of water while a Leopard Seal waits on the ice trying to catch one. Bite, you’re out! Wow, these two cameramen even dared to shoot without a cage. Deadly as those Leopard Seals are. Leopard Seal does try to bite the camera. Nice canines. (RUSH: Shot of cameraman being presented by the Seals catch!)
David talks about advancements and technologies to help scientists and tourists explore the area codes. But much is still not discovered and those that go find it how it’s been for thousands of years. The End.
ATTENBOROUGH’S LIFE IN THE FREEZER 5
Life in the Freezer – The Big Freeze
-70 degrees, 120mph winds, continuous darkness, a very lonely place. (Does this describe your life? Why not light up your life with a Bud Light!) Opening shots of these conditions. In conditions like this you need a special animal with special abilities… like the Wettle Seal. The only mammal that leave throughout the year this far south. Winter and summer they are just 800 miles from the pole. These seals make holes in the ice to get to the sea so they have to hang around there mostly. Under water the water does not drop below -1.8 degrees. Beautiful shot of ice ceilings and ice floors. The seals escape the storms and keep warm through these gateways. Amazing shot of the ceiling and the hole from the bottom of the ocean. Imagine a frozen white windscreen with a glowing blue bullet hole. It’s all lit by dim blue light filtering from the ice. What a world… like ice caves and … wow this place is cool. More great shots of the peaceful civilization, eerie and beautiful. Shots of camera guy going in cracks. Some dark tunnel.
Life here has different adaptations. Most fish would explode if they touched that ice wall. These survive coz they’re body is full of antifreeze. Up-skirt shot of Giant Jellyfish and all its intestine like tentacles. Shot of jelly thing with fibre optic hairs and glowing organs. The frozen sea ice provides shelter from waves and storms but food is scare turning most of the animals in the scavengers. Shot of tiny, pink, soft, spiky starfish making a meal of seal faeces. Wettle Seals can dive plus 750 meters in search of food. These depths can crush a human body. In that darkness we find stork sponges. Even though they grow very slowly, they become giants.
It’s October and female Wettle Seals are lying around the ice waiting to give birth. Okay… we didn’t need to see that! Imagine being born from nice warm mummy’s tummy to -20 degree ice. Pups gotta hurry and layer up… they usually double up in 10 days from the 60% Fat Wettle milk. (Yum, bring on the Crunchy Nut) After a week they babies are ready to swim. Better to get your body accustomed to the weather before it deteriorates. This is when the breeding holes are jealously guarded. When they ice threatens to close their holes they use their wide gape and excellent incisors to carve it back. But it takes its toll gradually wearing the teeth away till they can’t eat. Whettles die after 20 years. Half the age of the other Antarctic seals. A male protects his underwater territory and mates with all the females there. Cute shots of mother and baby sleeping around, baby yawning without teeth. If the babies are fattened in 6 weeks before they are weaned, 95% of the pups will survive.
Over to the largest active volcano in Antarctica, Mount Erebus. In the centre molten lava bubbles at 600 degrees while at the summit temperatures hardly go above -45 degrees. The mix of heat and ice and steam and rock, etc is perfect for other life like Alga and shlack. Behind the mountain the TransAntarctic mountain ranges stretch out long and broad. So extensive they run about 2000 mile and separates the great east and west ice caps. Peaks are 4000 meters high and vast blankets of glaciers fill the valleys. Hidden behind the mountains is one of the continents greatest surprises. Dry valleys, the largest area of bare rock to be found in the Antarctic. So dry, falling snow evaporates. The valley below is the driest place on Earth. No rain or snow for centuries. Hein? The temperature falls to -52 degrees and ice forms for about half a mile? I thought you said it was dry?
Anyway, so scientists use this place to test out vehicles for Mars. The funny shaped granite boulders are carved like that by the screaming winds. The winds are so dry they instantly absorb any moisture in the air and by that they desiccate and preserve tissues… like that mummified seal. 70 miles away from the sea, it’s probably been lying there for 3000 years or more. Shot of David walking down some really carved rocks. Like Oreos, not the colour but the spacing. He sits down and hammers one of the rocks, pulls the piece away and shows us moss living about a millimetre beneath the layer of the rock. They colonise in the spaces between the porous rock.
Over to the Antarctic Plateau, 3000 meters high. The most hostile places to be. Human life here is insignificant and totally irrelevant. In summer some lichen and Snow Petrels might come this far, but not in winter. Oh no! In summer this place has temperatures averaging -30 degrees. 1.5 times the size of Australia, the largest area of lifeless wilderness in the world. (Doesn’t that cancel out? Lifeless + wilderness = Wildlifelessness) Shot of Emperor Penguins shooting out of water. They are the ones that must cross this ice dessert. Gorgeous shot of white snow/ice being crossed by penguins, dull blue sky and one gangsta moon in a shade of stained teeth. So the inmates walk to one of their traditional nesting sites. In one there may be 25,000 birds. Emperors are the only bird that lay their egg directly on ice. (I lay mine directly on the frying pan). Soon as mother lays the egg, father gotta take over, the transfer has to be quick or you have frozen egg. The male puts in a brood pouch between his legs, lined with blood vessels this pouch will keep the egg 80 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. Sealed away for the winter under a flap of skin.
Speed shot of females making their way back across the sea ice. While partners are left to face the coldest conditions on Earth. Its -70 below, lots of storms. The penguins huddle together for warmth. Other penguins would not be so tolerant. Pretty organised as the ones on the edge move along to the sheltered side. Everyone takes their shift. Mid-winter approaches, the sun disappears for the last time this season, a month of total darkness. Lovely speed shots of the Southern Lights in the sky, Aurora Australis. They occur through subatomic particles entering from space into the Earths magnetic field. As winter recedes, the huddle breaks up. You can see the heat, that was trapped between them, escaping. WHAT? The males didn’t eat for 115 days?! Poor guys are close to death from starvation. (Eat the egg man!) (Maybe not your own.)
Shot of the sun kinda rising… more like shooting off sideways and diving back in the horizon. The fat ass females return. They may have to walk a 100 miles coz remember, like the continent expanded. By now the eggs have hatched and the lil ones are waiting for their first feed. The female times it just right. While the male can give the chick only one meal. A milky secretion from his gut wall. If the mother does not return in 10 days… pops gotta abandon baby to feed. Partners can recognise each others call even after 3 months. (C’est l’amour) They meet, do their greeting ritual for security purposes, then feed the lil one half digested fish. Look gross. Now the mother wants to take over but pops is reluctant. She has to push him back to get the baby. Then the transfer which looks like having a pooper scooper between your feet. Voila! She’s grabbed the little turd. More fun for the males… they have to walk a 100 miles while starved. While mothers chill with babies getting used to each others calls, etc.
Early spring now. Weather still very variable. The chicks look so cute! As in bar-be-cute. (Now that’s funny). That one was abandoned and was trying to get into the wrong mothers pooper scooper so she just walked off, kinda trampling the baby. Then another adult comes to scoop it coz this adult didn’t get a change to breed but the baby wants to wait for real moms. Shot of 3 un-partnered penguins fighting over the baby… these fights sometimes crush the chick to death. Line of dead chicks on the route. Mortality is high, many eggs don’t hatch and the ones that do… 25% die in the first few months. Survivors gotta grow fast, before the ice beneath them starts breaking up. They take 5 months to rear.
David holds an egg, stating that was the reason why man decided to travel so far… to collect the egg. Collect egg? Bill Wilson was convinced that the embryo would give conclusive evidence of the link between feathers of birds and scales of reptiles. So on June 12, 1911… He and 2 companions left Captain Scott’s hut and set out for the Emperor colony on the other side of Mount Erebus. It was the trip that became known as The Worst Journey in the World. Weather sucked, clothes and harnesses froze, crew suffered heavy frostbite hauling their sledges through that terrain. On their way back they lost their tent, then miraculously found it again and made it back to the hut alive. Returning with 3 eggs and 3 Emperor Penguin skins. One of the birds is on the table near David as he tells us how the evidence didn’t do what it was supposed to but the journey will remain one of the great stories in bla bla bla! Ok so the next episode will be explorers journeys and how people survive life around these area codes. Who cares about people!? (Opps, did I type that out loud).
ATTENBOROUGH’S LIFE IN THE FREEZER 4
Life in the Freezer – The Door Closes
Opening shot of a pounding surf beating on rocks, underwater camera turmoil and penguins desperately rushing to the rocky shore. And then the waves slapping them back in the water. All they have are their small claws on their feet to hold on to land. It’s the end of summer and the Macaroni Penguins are struggling to feed their young. Autumn will get worse as massive depressions rush around the fringes of the Antarctic creating huge gales. The gales have a gust of 100mph. Then the temperatures drop to below freezing. So life is gonna have a race to complete breeding as ice starts shutting up shop on the continent again.
Over in the deep south where the ice remained frozen, the penguins will face a greater challenge. Over in Cape Royds, Adelie Penguins have to up the speed on breeding. The crammed colony has to get moving to introduce their young to water. “Baby, H2O. H2O, baby.” Their first swim is gonna be missions. It’s filled with sharp edged brash ice. Just getting to the water they have to do a bit of rock-climbing. The youngsters gather at the edge, all nervous and waiting for someone to go in first. To top that off, the brash ice spreads so far even the adults, returning from water with food, find it hard to get back. Uh-oh, parents turn back. On the upside, it forces the young ones to take a dip. It’s easier that way anyway coz they’re light enough to use them as stepping stones. Like ants crossing a slushpuppy. Oh snap! Seems like a seal decided to take advantage of this. Ok now the Leopard Seal is just teasing his meal. Lucky, dude got away.
Shot of Leopard Seal getting another. Like throwing a bowling pin. Tragic but very funny to watch. Then in gets sad as the seal seems to have no urgency in killing and starts playing cat an mouse kill penguin drowns from exhaustion. Not funny to watch. Next comes the stripping off of flesh. Seal mouths it in the air and shakes the shit out of it till rest of food flies off as he munches on the bit that didn’t. The carcass settles in the sea floor. Some flattened looking tentacle Peeks out between some rocks. A Nemertean Worm. OH NO! Not one of those! It detected penguin flesh drifting in the ocean. Scary Giant Isopod joins the fun, looks like a grab and 10cm long. So while the Isopod eats the normal way, claws and mouth etc. The worm bloody inverts its stomach and envelopes the grub. Within an hour the carcass is full of these worms. In a few days… the carcass is just a skeleton. (What a depressing episode?)
While the first snows of winter fall, the last chicks of penguins are doomed as their parents abandon them. The parents have to recover their strength. Shots empty colonies littered with shed feathers. It’s moult time! The penguins have to change their feathers for the winter. Over on Deception Island, Chinstrap Penguins stand motion less. They can’t feed till they’ve got the right outfit on. For three weeks they fast and lose weight to get their warm watertight coats. By the end of March most have left, the rest making their move. These guys also face formidable challenges to get food. Shots of brash icy waves trying to catch the penguins. Its -1.9 degrees, sea begins to freeze, slight swell on the surface begins to produce pancake ice. Looks like large scales. The ice above water grows into crystals. As they grow larger David calls them Iced Flies. The ice gets thicker and freezes fast to the lands. The pack ice turns to sea ice. The belt of ice around the continent grows… 2 miles a day and engulfing most islands.
Over to South Georgia. The water doesn’t freeze there, only once a twice in a century. 45 degrees South (As far as Britain is from the north), the immense size of Antarctica still controls the climate. Glaciers cover over half the island, blanketing the peaks. The tallest of which is 2700 metres high. In some places they run right down to the sea. In winter the temperature falls to -10 degrees. The need to complete breeding is still intense. 2 million come here to breed. The pups suckle for 4 months till late March. Longer than the Fur Seals father north. Basically means these guys gotta be stronger to survive. If the pup wants its milk it better recognise it’s moms call. 3 months earlier that was the same beach the males had battles on, the same place where pups are now having mock fights. Shot of adults in the water dancing around, splashing about, cleaning up.
Many of the young will not survive. They face a lot of challenges. Shot of corpse being ravaged by skewers and petrels. Shot of evil looking petrels fighting with Frankenstein-ish background music. Whalers used to call them gluttons or stinkers… obvious to see why. Ah ducks. They also join the feast. South Georgia Pintails have acquired a regular taste for meat. Shot of gooey mud with eyes. Shot of nostril. Shot of shiny dome. Shot of the Elephant Seal wallow (group of them just sleeping about). A female gathering. Just like the penguins they went to sea after feeding the young, feed intensively to recover the weight and now, they’re back to moult. Shot of large chunks of skin and hair peeling away. Couple of months of this and they’re back to the sea.
Shot of Grey-headed Albatross gliding on the spot. The use the island too and they stay longer as the sea is still ice free to catch fish well into Autumn. Some more of those lovely regurgitation feeding. Lol close up shot of the food transfer as David says ‘That was a squid and very nice too’. (Really, Mr. Attenborough?) Shot of Wandering Albatross nesting further inland on the meadows of tussock grass. This albatross starts his breeding process now? And for 2 years?! The females in her nest just blowing raspberries in the air. Looking for a partner involves dancing parties. Some wing spreading dance and more blowing raspberries. Young unmated birds do this for a few years before they settle for one. Then together they’ll start to make a nest mound. But as winter closes in these young have to return to sea.
As the sun moves away and the days darken. The temperature goes lower still. Life in the waters reduces. Krill funk off elsewhere. Basically it gets harder to find food. Looks like speed shots of fog/mist creeping and crawling in over mountain tops. (Surely clouds don’t move like that? Or are that texture? These are important questions folks!;) Winds rise to over 100mph, temperature -70 degrees, the sea freezes. The ice advances north even more covering 40,000sq mile a day and by the end of winter will have doubled the size of the continent. Lovely shots of all white rocks and cracks and then you got the random icebergs with a blue glow.
End of Autumn and all life has flown north… all but one remarkable creature sticks around. Tan-taran-taraaaa… The Emperor Penguin. The largest of penguins, standing a meter high and weighting 3 kilos. These guys go further south to. Underwater shot of them shooting up from the water and over water shot of them doing a belly flop on ice. They’ll then walk 10’s of miles to their breeding grounds. Shot of them walking away… they look like inmates. More on them next time.
Watch the rare wonders of nature…….
The classical natural wonders are huge and hard to miss – vast canyons, giant mountains and the like. Many of the most fantastic natural phenomena, however, are also least easy to spot. Some are incredibly rare while others are located in hard-to-reach parts of the planet. From moving rocks to mammatus clouds and red tides to fire rainbows, here are seven of the most spectacular phenomenal wonders of the natural world.
1) Sailing Stones
The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a center of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of strong winds and surface ice account for these movements. However, this theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at different rates and in disparate directions. Moreover, the physics calculations do not fully support this theory as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some of the stones.
2) Columnar Basalt
When a thick lava flow cools it contracts vertically but cracks perpendicular to its directional flow with remarkable geometric regularity – in most cases forming a regular grid of remarkable hexagonal extrusions that almost appear to be made by man. One of the most famous such examples is the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of Ireland (shown above) though the largest and most widely recognized would be Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Basalt also forms different but equally fascinating ways when eruptions are exposed to air or water.
3) Blue Holes
Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation that get their name from the dark and foreboding blue tone they exhibit when viewed from above in relationship to surrounding waters. They can be hundreds of feet deep and while divers are able to explore some of them they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea life due to poor water circulation – leaving them eerily empty. Some blue holes, however, contain ancient fossil remains that have been discovered, preserved in their depths.
4) Red Tides
Red tides are also known as algal blooms – sudden influxes of massive amounts of colored single-cell algae that can convert entire areas of an ocean or beach into a blood red color. While some of these can be relatively harmless, others can be harbingers of deadly toxins that cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals. In some cases, even humans have been harmed by red tides though no human exposure are known to have been fatal. While they can be fatal, the constituent phytoplankton in ride tides are not harmful in small numbers.
5) Ice Circles
While many see these apparently perfect ice circles as worthy of conspiracy theorizing, scientists generally accept that they are formed by eddies in the water that spin a sizable piece of ice in a circular motion. As a result of this rotation, other pieces of ice and flotsam wear relatively evenly at the edges of the ice until it slowly forms into an essentially ideal circle. Ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups at different sizes as shown above.
6) Mammatus Clouds
True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system. Typically composed primarily of ice, they can extend for hundreds of miles in each direction and individual formations can remain visibly static for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding they are merely the messengers – appearing around, before or even after severe weather.
7) Fire Rainbows
A circumhorizontal fire rainbow arc occurs at a rare confluence of right time and right place for the sun and certain clouds. Crystals within the clouds refract light into the various visible waves of the spectrum but only if they are arrayed correctly relative to the ground below. Due to the rarity with which all of these events happen in conjunction with one another, there are relatively few remarkable photos of this phenomena.
ATTENBOROUGH’S LIFE IN THE FREEZER 3
Life in the Freezer – The Race To Breed
Opening shot of seals stitching the water this time. It’s November, summer in Antarctica and the seas are kicking with life. Did David say thirsty eels or fur seals? So Fur Seals are headed to Southern Georgia by the thousand. Some Bull Seal’s have already claimed some beach real estate. While David say’s they’re prepared to take on anyone to protect their turf he’s walking around one with a stick as it charges towards him now and again. He’s like it’s not too dangerous now… till 2 weeks on when the females come and then the beach is gonna be packed with over a 100,000 Fur Seals. I don’t know about you but the before and after shot always amazes me. ;o) Each bull rules about 30 meters sq., enough to accommodate a dozen females. When neighbours cross the boundary there is a ritualised display of force but not fighting as long as neighbours behave. Pregnant females arrive and head to the prime territories near the high water mark. If they’re full she gotta lower standards. By December, 95% of the worlds population of Fur Seals i.e. over a million will be here in South Georgia.
And a couple of days after the females arrive it’s time to squeeze the lil ones out. While that’s going on you got these birds (think it’s spelt skewers) that come down to eat up the afterbirth which pretty much looks like a giant condom with a baby seal in it. (Note: Always give protected birth!) They’re so cute! And the mother will refuse to be parted with her baby for a week. So the pups grow quick coz of the fat rich milk and double size in 60 days. More shots of the pups being adorable. David mentions them having 8 years till they first fight? Now the bulls have to be on their guard as the females are sexually available while off shore, the males without territories are swimming around. Keeping an eye out for a weakened bull or abandoned territory. If they claim it, they can mate with the territories females. One of them might have spotted something so he’s started to dash but he’s not big enough and the others Mike Tysoned the poor guy. The urge to breed is so strong so there’s always battles happening. Shot of a few battles as young hopeful seals try to get down with O.P.P. Ouch, flippers getting slit and split and necks being gouged. Now even though none are killed in battle, the most probably will die from their wounds or exhaustion.
Extra wicked shot of penguins stitching the water… I mean loads of them. So Chinstrap Penguins are returning from their feeding grounds 20 mile off shore to feed their chicks. In mid-summer there is almost 24 hours of daylight. Did David just say Deception Island. Yes he did! Another amazing shot of a busy shore with a 2 lane highway of penguins coming and going. How cool is organised traffic with you mix it with animals?! 100,000 commuters make trips each day. (Trial joke: Don’t eat that Oyster… card). Lol David calls it nature’s greatest rush-hour. The trek lasts an hour. First journey adventure is crossing streams (very funny as the water sometimes sweeps them away), but the rough and tumble in the white water doesn’t deter them. Next mission, mountain climbing (and they’re very good mountaineers). The stiff quills from their tails are a major help especially to stop falling backwards. Man that’s a long ass climb, and not having hands to help… major kudos.
Jaw dropping aerial shot of 200,000 birds. But they don’t have a hard time finding their partners which is celebrated with a ‘jubilant display’. The one that just arrived switches shifts for feeding and caring while the other that had to fast will restock and bring more supplies. The ones nesting on the lower slopes are lucky while the ones higher up had to endure the climb and still in the clouds most of the time. Another 1 hour trek back down from a arduous journey to a dangerous journey as they enter the sea. Shot of Chinstrap Penguin being tossed like the Gingerbread Man by a Leopard Seal. Leopard Seals can catch 6 penguins in like an hour. So 100’s in a season man! Naaaw, now he’s turned the penguin into a merry-go-round… by the neck. Extra gore shot of one that escaped. But now it has to face those skewer birds. Aint that a beach! Now he has to struggle back up to its nest. Yo don’t give up! Poor guy stopped climbing and laid down. Hope the fella made it.
Now that summer has come it’s freed up the edge of the continent. Temperatures regularly rise above freezing. Feons/freeons/or something like that are freed. Leopard Seals bask in the sun. Life is in relax mode. Romantic shot of seals slow dancing around each other. Another shot of icicles melting. Now snow and ice turns into Antarctica’s most precious commodity… Vodka! What do you think! FRESH WATER of course. Which means the sparse vegetation gets their proliferation on. Banks of moss which is host to lotsa tiny animals. While in the crevices there’s still some ice. And the only land animals that can survive the Antarctic winter… Mites! No bigger than a pinhead, they contain an antifreeze that allow them to super cool to -30 degrees. Shot sped up to allow ice to melt an reveal them coming to life. They have no fixed breeding season and reproduce when temperatures go above freezing. Shot of thousands of them in a crevice. They feed on moss and dead vegetation. But they’re also food to other tiny things. David calls the place Antarctica’s own miniature Serengeti.
In other places there is enough melted water to create fresh water ponds. Underwater shot of lil crustaceans and larvae. Cute and creepy. Now green is a pretty rare colour for Antarctica as moss needs fresh water and soil. Lichens on the other hand can grow on rock. They are able to dissolve rock and extra the nutrients but it takes agesssss. It takes centuries just to make it grow like a lil garden. David goes even farther south. David says if he was away from the North pole the same distance he’d have found flowering plants on the rocks and shlack. While in the South only 2 species of flowering plants has been found farther south than where we is. And its tiny lichens. Some get within 200 miles of the pole. Pole, pole, which pole? South Pole! So these plants are not lichen but are more liken to alga. They grow in the snow and make the snow look bright pink. Yeah right… looks more like a used Always pad after it was dipped in water. I know these things. And in summer the melting releases the algae into the sea.
Over to the moving icebergs. The ebb and flow disintegrates the icebergs which in turn releases minerals and nutrients into the sea. Now floating algae fitoplacton bloom in vast clouds. Icebergs scouring the seafloor does not make life easy, but in sheltered areas and deeper water, there is a variety of sea creatures. Gorgeous shot of these fluffy things and feathery things and bushy things. Life is pretty slow down here, a sponge or starfish could life 40 years. There are fish too. Shot of bird called the Blue Eyed Shag which can dive down to depths of 100 meters to find the fish. Their colonies are never too far from their feeding grounds. Crazy shot of regurgitated feeding… I mean in this case the babies whole face is poking inside parents throat. Just watching it is a pain in the neck. The babies rely totally on their parents for warmth. Many will die if the summer storms are severe. But otherwise they’re long lived and will reproduce lots in their lifetime.
Here’s a bird that is not daunted by not having open waters around. Antarctic Terns patrol the bay in search of grub. Their breeding season is long and even in summer the chicks are still hatching. Some years cause heavy losses of chicks coz of bad weather or those skewer birds. Lucky terns can lay eggs 2 or 3 times in a season. (Yes I’ll have seconds of that sunny side up, thank you.) In February, the height of summer, sea ice returns… at least to a minimum and releases rock in the deep south. Shot of something called the Skullin Monolith, one of the very few areas of bare rock for many miles around. 300,000 Antarctic Petrels come to breed up in this joint. Multiple orgasmic shots first of the petrels flying around, then them flying together, then a head on shot of penguins stitching the sea. (I need a cigarette after that).
Remember those Adelie Penguins that were cut off from open water… well now they have access to it. Life is good and shlack. Lol some stop on a mini berg for a rest but as more climb on the berg rolls in different directions. Till they look like they’re in that log rolling competition thing. And they all fall down. Lots of activity now and for some reason all the penguins rush for the beach at the same time? Heart-warming shot of adults returning to their lonely chicks waiting in crèches. A chick can instantly recognize their parents call. And a mad chase begins which lasts a few minutes to separate the real chick from the impostor hehehe. The strongest chick from the pair is fed first. Now when food is scarce the younger one is not fed sometimes and those skewer birds are constantly on the look out for weakening ones. Many adult penguins are forced to regurgitate their meals so the skewers hog on the spilt krill and stuff instead. Shot of small unattended chick that strayed being ganged on by the skewers. But adults come to the rescue!
WOWWWWW, extra fantastic shot of dark and gloomy horizon with a tint of yellow on the snow in the mountains at the back. Then 3 magnificent icebergs glowing with a tint of baby blue, 3 mini icebergs doing the same on calm waters, and a single bird floating around in such a big area.