Animal world of Antarctica. The Hidden World of Antarctica

Scientists at remote Antarctic stations report seeing moving sources of strong light under the ice. Messages from several Antarctic stations were emergency and scientists are worried about their safety. They need urgent action...
These reports, to the dismay of the governments of those countries whose monitoring stations sent such distress signals.
In addition to alarm messages from the US Antarctic stations, similar information was received from Russian scientists. Earlier, a group of Russian scientists repeatedly reported the observation of light and sound anomalies in the area of Vostok station, located near a subglacial lake in Antarctica.

European scientists say that SOMETHING under the ice of Antarctica got there 12,000 years ago, when this continent was not yet covered with ice. What is there is the oldest man-made structure on Earth.

There is evidence that back in 2001, the United States sent an expedition to the anomaly detection area with drilling rigs and heavy equipment for excavations, including those based on laser drills. And the anomalous activity in the under-ice space, apparently, is the result of these excavations. ancient structure under the ice sheet.

An emergency evacuation of scientists from Antarctic stations located in the area is reported.

Scientists appealed to the US Congress with a demand to open to the public and the scientific community information about what was found in Antarctica, writes realnewsreporter.com

It is known that over the past few years, Candoliza Rice and Nikolai Patrushev have visited Antarctica. The all-powerful NSA oversees American research, which is somewhat strange. The presence of tourists in Antarctica is strictly regulated and they stay there for no more than 4 hours. All unauthorized travel is stopped by the “men in black”. So, what, under the ice shell of Antarctica, can attract US government circles, as well as Russia, so much that they send scientific expeditions equipped with expensive and carefully classified equipment to the sixth continent, to the Lake Vostok region?

Some time after the events described, two travelers set off from the Australian Antarctic station "Casey" in the direction of Lake Vostok, intending to cross the Antarctic continent on skis. When they reached the lake and were already walking on its ice cover, an American Air Force plane suddenly landed not far from them, and “civilian people” invited the brave girls to proceed on board, explaining that they had flown to rescue them. Meanwhile, the travelers had properly functioning means of communication, and they did not ask for any help. It is known that during their ski trip, the girls told relatives and friends via satellite phones that they would tell them about something absolutely incredible upon their return. However, when they returned home, they did not say anything of the kind and did not give any interviews.”

Politicians often go to Antarctica Since December 2005
Sergei Ivanov, as First Deputy Prime Minister, oversaw the GLONASS project. Then President Vladimir Putin gave a personal instruction to Mr. Ivanov to speed up the deployment of the system: GLONASS was supposed to start operating throughout Russia by January 1, 2008.

December 28, 2006
The US Air Force, as part of Operation Deep Freeze, for the first time carried out a large-scale parachute landing of 40 tons of cargo directly to the South Pole using heavy military transport C-17 Globemaster III ...

January 5, 2007
Director landed at Bellingshausen Antarctic Station Federal Service security Nikolai Patrushev, together with the first deputy director of the FSB - the head border service FSB of Russia Vladimir Pronichev and State Duma deputy Artur Chilingarov.

Two Russian helicopter Mi-8s reached the South Pole for the first time today. On board the helicopters were State Duma deputy Artur Chilingarov, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Nikolai Patrushev, his first deputy and head of the FSB border service Vladimir Pronichev, and head of the World Meteorological Organization Alexander Bednitsky. The expedition members met with American polar explorers…

March 12, 2008
First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov yesterday visited the Russian scientific station "Novolazarevskaya" in Antarctica. Ivanov flew around eastern regions"White Continent", examined the station "Novolazarevskaya", held a meeting on the transport support of polar explorers, presented them with government awards and promised an additional runway.

“Fly to Antarctica” sounds easy. Six hours flight from Cape Town instead of several (from one to six) weeks that the same journey takes, but by water. And the easy phrase acquires difficult details already in the course of movement. The head of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Alexei Fedorov, honestly warned: if the weather on Novolazarevskaya suddenly deteriorates, the IL-76 will not return to Cape Town. Its fuel supply is for 8 hours of flight, and here it is 6 only in one direction. Two hours before boarding - “return point”. This is such an optimistic version of its name, in fact, it is rather a “point of no return” - if you don’t turn around in time, there may no longer be a way back.

Now about the visit to Antarctica of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Ivanov with a whole retinue of ministers, a lot of questions arise:

When did politicians take such risks? The prime minister, a couple more ministers, and with them gathered on the same plane high-ranking official practically in the rank of branch minister. Well, we got to Cape Town in the usual comfort of the Il-62VIP, which is not for mere mortals, but only for the government, and along safe air routes over the continents. But then they transferred to the military transport Il-76TD without amenities, where luxury never happened, and for another 6 hours they flew over the deserted and cold Southern Ocean, where there are only whalers' ships, and then rarely, not every year they appear, and practically "to nowhere" - without any navigational and dispatching support and escort from the ground. What happened - the land plane will not be able to land on the water, and there is nowhere to wait for help ...

So what is Antarctica?
Until recently, Antarctica was considered a continent covered with ice for millions of years. But now this is actually refuted, find the remains of dinosaurs and other forms earlier unknown life. It is interesting that our Bellenshausen discovered Antarctica, many believed that it did not exist at all. But maps of this land, and without ice, have already been, the most famous is the map of the Ottoman admiral Piri Rais of the 16th century, there are also maps of Antarctica from Mercator and other cartographers. The authenticity of the map was confirmed only after the 2nd World War, thanks to the expedition of our polar explorers. Where did these maps come from, who could have compiled them, why such aerial photographic accuracy?

Why did the US military come to Antarctica?
There was a clear interest in Antarctica, about a year ago. A familiar sailor from the icebreaker "I. Khlebnikov" spoke about the caravan of 7 American ships they were conducting to Antarctica. He told me that he saw a lot of incomprehensible equipment and a lot of military men. All this went deep into the continent and was accompanied by all sorts of secrecy (the icebreaker stood in the road during unloading, the team was not allowed ashore, at first, but they watched the American landing with binoculars) That's the question - well, the technique (although why so many?), but why do they need soldiers in Antarctica?

New Swabia reality? There is direct documentary evidence that from 1940 to 1943 the Nazis built some secret objects in Antarctica in the area of Queen Maud Land. Soviet intelligence was reliably aware of the following. Some German scientists shared the “hollow Earth” theory, according to which there are giant voids under the surface of the planet, which are real oases with warm air.
According to German experts, similar voids existed in Antarctica. In the archival documents of SMERSH studied by Itogi, there is information that in 1938 German submariners who explored the ice continent allegedly found something under the thickness of the ice. According to secret documents, we are talking about “territories underground, but with the same mountains and continents, oceans fresh water, the inner sun around which the Earth rotates. Passage to these territories is possible as a result of special maneuvers when diving in submarines. Lotions have been preserved. The Germans, assuming that the cards could fall into the wrong hands, made several options, including false ones. The maps were printed in 1500 copies in the Dachau concentration camp in the “Sonderlaboratory” in January 1944, which indicates the extreme secrecy of information. It is not surprising that all the people involved in their manufacture were destroyed.

In any case, these were not just cards. On each of them, different keys are indicated by numbers and signs that require decoding by specialists in the field of astronomy and navigation. There is a suspicion that they are used depending on the seasons and the position of the moon. At the very end of the war, the People's Commissar navy In the USSR, Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov was sent ten copies of German underwater maps by intelligence to "organize the planned work and develop proposals."

Historians, working with SS archival documents, have found specific records. “My submariners have discovered a real earthly paradise,” said the commander of the German submarine fleet, Admiral Doenitz. And one more mysterious phrase that sounded from his lips: “Germanic submarine fleet proud of the fact that on the other side of the world he created an impregnable fortress for the Fuhrer. Allegedly, Hitler himself blabbed out on this topic. At the celebration of the completion of the building of the new Reich Chancellery, he said: “Well, okay! If in this divided-redivided Europe a couple of states can be annexed to the Reich in a few days, then no problems are foreseen with Antarctica, and even more so ... ”

From secret documents it follows that in 1940 in Antarctica, on the personal instructions of the Fuhrer, the construction of two underground bases began. Their purpose was exclusively functional - they were reliable shelters and at the same time testing grounds for the creation of super-advanced technologies. Nobody put any sacred meaning into these objects.

For the transportation of goods to distant lands, 38 submarines from the Fuhrer's Convoy were used. Mentions of these boats are also found in documents Soviet intelligence: “... I report that on June 11, 1945, SMERSH counterintelligence officers of the 79th rifle corps in the headquarters of the German Navy at the address: Berlin-Tiergarten, Tirpitzufer 38-42, in the office found “maps of the passage of the sea depths” with the stamp “only for submarine captains A-class sonder-escort of the Fuhrer "in the amount of 38 pieces under the numbers with the series" 44 "No. from 0188 to 0199 ... from No. 0446 to 0456".

According to some military historians, at the very end of the war in the port of German Kiel, torpedo weapons were removed from these submarines and loaded with containers with various cargoes. In addition, the submarines took on board passengers - several hundred in number, who were destined to become residents of New Swabia.

Mysteries of Antarctica

It would seem, well, what mysteries and secrets can be found on an uninhabited continent, where over 99% of the territory is covered with a layer of ice up to four kilometers thick, average temperature even during the summer months fluctuates from -30o to -50o C, vegetation is practically absent, and animal world Is it represented only by penguins and seals living on the coast? But…

In Antarctica, at a distance of 480 kilometers from the South Pole, there is a huge lake Vostok. In terms of area, it is not inferior to such lakes as Onega, Chad and Nicaragua. The thickness of the ice over the lake is from three and a half to four and a half kilometers, its greatest depth is 1200 meters, and in the area of the Russian Antarctic station "Vostok" located just above it - 680 meters. Scientists around the world consider the study of this unique lake one of the most interesting and intractable scientific problems. early XXI century.

When the data received from American orbiting satellites showed that there was a cavity 800 meters high covered with an ice dome above the water surface of the lake, and the instruments registered high magnetic activity there, the further implementation of the American research program was suddenly interrupted, and all civilian specialists were removed from it. The management of further work passed to certain government structures and departments.

Until 2000, an international team of scientists was engaged in the research of the lake from the American side, but then the US National Security Administration took over the reins. NASA media relations spokeswoman Deborah Schingteller said the replacement was dictated by national security concerns. Immediately after these words, one of the NASA leaders took a seat in front of the microphone, specifying that “research is interrupted to ensure environmental safety. environment". Since then, none of the journalists has been able to contact Deborah Schingteller and find out what kind of security she had in mind.

So what, under the ice shell of Antarctica, can attract the government circles of the United States, as well as Russia, so much that they send scientific expeditions equipped with expensive and carefully classified equipment to the sixth continent, to the Lake Vostok region?

Instruments installed on satellites showed that the water temperature in the lake ranges from +10o to +18oC! This means that in the depths of the lake there are geothermal or some other sources of heat. Analyzing the readings of the instruments, scientists suggested that a self-cleaning atmosphere may exist in the cavity between the ice dome covering the lake and its water surface, and, perhaps, plants live in it.

According to information published in foreign sources, in February 2000, two groups of scientists, carrying out a joint research program funded by the US and British governments, intended to lower special probes equipped with various sensors. But suddenly they were instructed to stop all work on the program. No explanation followed. And at the same time, a new contingent of researchers allegedly arrived at the Russian Antarctic station, with whom a large amount of complex and expensive equipment was delivered. And it all happened in deep secrecy.

In connection with the above, some ufologists and researchers mysterious phenomena nature and the mysteries of history are discussing the possibility of the existence in Antarctica - on its surface or under the ice cover - of a secret base of UFOs or German Nazis (!), And some believe that one does not exclude the other.

As for the last two assumptions, even with the most skeptical attitude towards UFOs, the idea of the existence of a Nazi base in Antarctica seems even more fantastic, if not downright absurd. But perhaps one should not rush to such conclusions ...

In the summer of 1940, in a mountainous area near the city of Kowary, in the very southwest of occupied Poland, the Nazis created a highly classified The educational center. Soldiers and officers specially selected from elite units Wehrmacht. They were trained for combat operations in the most severe conditions of such polar zones as the Arctic and ... Antarctica.

The decision to annex Queen Maud Land - the Norwegian possessions in eastern Antarctica - was made by the German command back in May 1940, shortly after the capitulation of Norway. For this purpose, a special military unit was formed under the command of General Alfred Richter, the backbone of which was to be those who will be trained in the camp near Kovary. There is evidence that the Germans had been hatching plans for a landing on Queen Maud Land since 1938 and even came up with their own name for this territory in advance: New Swabia. Allegedly, even then, Richter flew over it in a small plane and dropped several dozen pennants with a swastika down, demonstrating complete disregard for international agreements on the division of Antarctica. And in 1941, the Germans really landed in Antarctica, in the former, as they believed, Norwegian possessions, and founded their Oasis station there in the area now known as the Bunger Oasis, after the American pilot who discovered it in 1946 . Antarctic "oases" are areas of land free of ice. Their origin has not been fully elucidated. Some ufologists and researchers of historical mysteries and unknown phenomena, including the Pole Robert Lesnyakevich and the Slovak Milos Esensky, suggest that one of the reasons for the formation, in particular, of the Bunger Oasis, the largest in Antarctica, could be ... experiments with nuclear energy conducted by the Germans on station "Oasis" during the Second World War. They write about this in their book "Wunderland". Extraterrestrial Technologies in the Third Reich”, published in 1999 in Warsaw.

Epilogue What have they found in Antarctica now? Is it a parallel civilization or the base of an alien civilization, New Swabia, or is SOMETHING living there?

I think we will find out soon about this, perhaps now we are witnessing the opening of the next chapter of the Concealment project ...

Harsh and regal, mysterious and alluring, Antarctica has a very limited species diversity animal world. However, even in the extreme climatic conditions of Antarctica, some animals feel great.

Representatives of the local fauna inhabit the coastal strip of the mainland and live in coastal waters.

The land animals of Antarctica are leopard seals, crabeater seals, elephant seals, 17 species of penguins (Adelie penguins, emperor penguins and others), two species of skuas and several species of petrels. Nematodes live in soils, and up to 70 species of arthropods, represented by arachnids and insects, can be found on the surface.

Sea leopards (Eng. Leopard seal)- a species of seals, whose habitat is the subantarctic regions of the Southern Ocean. Male sea leopards reach a length of 3 meters and weigh approximately 270 kg, while females grow up to 4 meters and have a body weight of up to 0.4 tons. The body of animals has a smooth, streamlined shape, which makes it possible to slide freely in the thickness ocean waters at speeds up to 40 km/h. The diet of these animals includes warm-blooded vertebrates, including young seals and penguins.

Crabeater seal- a species characteristic of Antarctica, characterized by large numbers. The body length of an adult seal is on average 2-2.5 m, females and males appearance almost identical to each other, both of which go through a process of molting every year at the beginning of spring, changing the color of the fur from silver gray to grayish brown with a few light spots. The food for these seals are small crustaceans.

Adélie penguins- typically Antarctic birds, in the nests of which there are up to 700 thousand individuals. These penguins make up 2/3 of all birds in Antarctica. Most they spend their lives in the ocean, and come ashore only during the nesting period. Penguins are called birds only conditionally - they do not know how to fly, but they can swim very well at speeds up to 20 km / h. Almost the entire body of Adele is covered with waterproof feathers, and under the skin there is a thick fatty layer that protects from severe frosts. Adélie penguins feed exclusively on krill, cephalopods, mollusks and small fish. Daily food intake for adult reaches 2 kg.

Emperor Penguins- the largest penguins living on Earth, reaching 1.3 m in length and weighing up to 45 kg. These birds have rounded shapes, disproportionately small heads and legs. Body color is black and white: black plumage on the back and white on the chest is natural protection birds from enemies. On the cheeks and below the neck emperor penguins there are yellow-orange patches of plumage. Penguins spend most of the year on drifting ice floes and at sea, but during mating they return to the mainland. The main food of emperor penguins is krill, shellfish and fish, which they hunt in groups.

King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonica)

Lives to the north, in more warm places. Breeding colonies are located on the islands of South Georgia, Kerguelen, Marion, Crozet and Macquarie.
The length of the body is 91-96 cm. The colonies are located on solid rocky ground. Reproduction occurs in summer: eggs are laid mainly in December - January. Each female lays only 1 large egg. Both parents incubate alternately. Incubation duration 54 days

Rockhopper penguin or climbing penguin, rocky penguin(Eudyptes chrysocome)

It lives on the rocky islands of the subantarctic region, but sometimes they are also found to the north, at the southern tip of Africa and South America and also on the south coast of New Zealand.
Reaches 45-58 cm in height, weight 2-3 kg.

Breeds in large colonies on the barren and very harsh islands of Tristanda Cunha and Heard Island. In a noisy and cramped colony small first the egg is usually lost in quarrels with neighbors. The chicks gather in the nursery, but return to the nest when the parents call them to feed them. Chicks grow up quickly and at the age of 10 weeks are ready to go to sea.

Victoria Penguin or Crested Thick-billed Penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus)

It breeds only on the rocky, creviced coast of New Zealand's South Island, and also on two small offshore islands- Stuart and Solander.
Reaches 60 cm in length, with a weight of about 3 kg.

Golden-haired penguins (Eng. Macaroni Penguin) - low (up to 76 cm) penguins colonially nesting near Antarctica, having a bunch of golden yellow feathers above their eyes.

Little penguin, elf penguin, little blue penguin, little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor)

It lives off the southern coast of Australia, along the coasts of Tasmania, New Zealand and Chatham Island.
It has a body length of only 40 cm. Usually lays 1-2, sometimes 3 eggs.

Antarctic penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica)

It lives mainly on the barren islands of the subantarctic region.
It reaches a height of 71-76 cm with a weight of 4 kg.
These penguins are quite aggressive. There are known cases of these birds attacking people approaching the colony. Unlike other species, they feed their both chicks.

giant petrels

nesting birds on the Antarctic islands, feeding on marine animals, and sometimes young penguins. The size of the wings of these birds reaches half a meter. Scientists find out that petrels, using the power of a tailwind, are able to fly around the entire planet and return to their nesting place.

great skuas

The closest relatives of seagulls. Their wings length reaches 40 cm, but they walk on the ground as well as they fly. Skuas feed on fish, small animals and birds, and can be content with carrion.

Skuas are bandits, and nothing more. There are four types of them, and all - some more, some less - rob. Eggs and chicks are stolen from neighbors. Penguins are especially affected by great skuas. Large skuas, they are as tall as a large herring gull, kill with strong beaks even adult birds that they can overcome

New Year's greetings from penguins

On our planet there is an ice kingdom - Antarctica. This is the mainland, which is almost entirely covered with ice, there is no ice only on mountain ranges.

Temperatures are always low here and severe winds blow, so such weather influenced the appearance of animals.

In general, the flora and fauna of Antarctica is very poor and unique, it has no analogues in the world.

Adélie penguins

The most common inhabitants of Antarctica are Adélie penguins. They are mostly found in water, as water is warmer than air. They come to the surface only for nesting.

The males of these penguins are very careful about finding a companion and caring for their offspring. The male finds a suitable pebble and brings it to his chosen one, if the female likes the pebble, then she becomes the male's partner for life.

All newborn chicks are collected in a "nursery", and after 60 days all babies become adults and can independently search for food. Each adult requires 2 kilograms of food daily.

Baleen whales of Antarctica

The fauna of this harsh area is not limited to penguins. The Antarctic Ocean is home to the most huge mammals- cetaceans. There are two types of whales in Antarctica: baleen and toothed.

Baleen whales are the best studied, because they are the object of whaling. This group includes humpback whales, fin whales, blue whales and right whales. The largest is . It is on them and on fin whales that people hunt the most. The body length of the largest individual killed in Antarctica was 35 meters, but on average blue whales are about 26 meters long. From a large whale, you can get up to 20 tons of fat, and its total weight is 16 tons.

The great blue whale is a member of the baleen whale family.

The diet of baleen whales consists mainly of small crustaceans, which are found in abundance in the icy Antarctic waters. Female whales feed babies with milk, and every day they add 100 kilograms to this fatty food.

Toothed whales of the ice kingdom

Toothed whales include bottlenose whales, killer whales and. by the most the most dangerous predators are killer whales. With the help of its powerful and sharp fin, the killer whale is capable of inflicting a serious wound even on a whale.

The diet of killer whales is very diverse, but each individual population has its own specialization.

For example, killer whales living near Norway prey on schools of herring, which are abundant in those waters. Killer whales hunt in packs, and they do it in a sophisticated way, so the hunt always ends in success.

These killers attack seals, fur seals, dolphins, sea lions and even sperm whales. When hunting for seals, killer whales make ambushes, hiding behind ledges of ice. When penguins become their prey, killer whales jump onto the ice floe, turning it over and throwing the prey into the water.

Large whales are hunted mainly by killer whales. They all attack the prey together, snatching pieces of meat from the fins and throat, while preventing the whale from rising to the surface. And if they attacked a sperm whale, then, on the contrary, they do not allow it to dive into the depths.

Killer whales are huge social Antarctic inhabitants.

Killer whales are well developed social structure. The maternal group includes a female with a baby, grown-up sons and several families, consisting of direct relatives of the main female. Such social groups may consist of about 20 individuals. All of them are quite strongly attached to relatives. Each pack has its own way of communicating. Killer whales do not let their crippled or old relatives die. Relations within the pack can be called very affectionate and friendly.

Antarctica is the most cold mainland Earth. With its unique natural features Antarctica owes geographic location. Almost the entire continent is located beyond the Antarctic Circle. The sun never rises high above the horizon. In summer, polar day comes to Antarctica, and in winter - polar night, the duration of which is south pole reaches half a year - only once a year you can watch the sunrise and sunset here. The slanting rays of the sun cannot warm this continent, and therefore Antarctica is in the grip of eternal cold. It is covered with a kilometer-long ice shell, only in places black bare Antarctic rocks - nunataks - peep out from under the ice. natural world the mainland is quite scarce. Of the plants, mosses and lichens predominate here, there are several species of flowering plants. On the coast of Antarctica arrange their rookeries seals flocks of penguins settle. Due to its removal, Antarctica became the last open mainland on the ground. Its discovery took place only in the 19th century during the Russian Antarctic expedition led by F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev. Antarctica was the only continent on the planet that humans could not inhabit. And today there is no permanent population in Antarctica, moreover, all territories south of the 60th parallel do not belong to any state in the world and are the property of all mankind. Here is the so-called pole of inaccessibility - the point as far as possible from all settlements Earth. International research is actively conducted in Antarctica, now there are 37 stations operating here with total strength staff up to 3000 people. At the Soviet station Vostok, now remaining the only inland Russian polar station, on July 21, 1983, the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded -89.2 ° C. Really, climatic conditions Antarctica is the most severe on the entire planet, with exceptionally low temperatures very little precipitation falls here, and the strongest winds blow - at a speed of up to 90 m / s. Antarctica is very similar to Mars in its climate.

The list of geographical objects for students in grade 7, which you need to know and mark on the contour map:

Coastline:
Seas: Wedell, Lazarev, Larsen, Cosmonauts, Commonwealth, D'Urville, Somov, Ross, Amundsen, Bellingshausen.
Peninsulas: Antarctic
Lands: Victoria, Wilkes, Queen Maud, Alexander I, Ellsworth, Mary Byrd
Relief:
Mountains: Transantarctic, Vernadsky, Gamburtseva, Vinson massif
Plains: Baird, Schmidt, East
Plateau: Soviet, Polar, Eastern
Highest point: city (5140 m)
Volcanoes: Erebus, Terror
Climate:
Glaciers: Ross, Ronne, Lambert
Cold Circum-Antarctic Current of Western Winds
Other important objects
South Pole, Magnetic Pole, Pole of Inaccessibility, Vostok Station (Cold Pole), Russian stations: Mirny, Progress, Novolazarevskaya, Bellingshausen
Designate travel routes

This is one of the most mysterious and little-studied continents on our planet. Antarctica was discovered by two brave explorers - M. Lazarev and F. Bellingshausen. Their expedition confirmed the presence of Antarctica in the south the globe. It happened in 1820.

Climatic conditions

The nature of Antarctica has the coldest climate on earth. In 1983, the absolute minimum was officially registered - minus 89.2 degrees. In winter, the temperature is kept at around -60 to -75 degrees. In summer it rises to -50. And only on the coast the climate is milder: the average temperature ranges from 0 to -20 degrees.

Precipitation is possible only in the form of snow, which is compressed under its own weight, forming new layers of ice.

However, there are rivers and lakes in Antarctica. They appear in the summer, and in the winter they are again covered with an ice crust. Today, scientists have discovered 140 subglacial lakes. Of these, only one does not freeze - the East.

Flora of Antarctica

The flora of the continent is extremely poor. The natural features of Antarctica are explained by its harsh climate. Most of all, algae grow here - about 700 species. The ice-free plains and the coast of the mainland are covered with lichens and mosses. There are only two flowering plants on this harsh land - colobantus kito and antarctic meadow grass.

Colobanthus kito belongs to the clove family. It is a low, cushion-shaped herbaceous plant with small, pale yellow and white flowers. The height of an adult plant does not exceed five to five centimeters.

Antarctic meadow grass belongs to cereals. Grows only in areas of land illuminated by the sun. These inconspicuous bushes grow up to 20 centimeters. The plant tolerates frost well. Even during flowering, frost does not harm him.

The flora of Antarctica, represented by a few plants, has adapted to the eternal cold. Their cells contain little water, all processes are slow.

Animals

Features of the nature of Antarctica left their mark on the fauna of the continent. The animals of this icy country live only where there is vegetation. Despite the harsh climate, dinosaurs lived in Antarctica in ancient times.

Antarctic animals can be conditionally divided into two independent groups - aquatic and terrestrial. It should be noted that there are no animals permanently living on land in Antarctica.

The waters surrounding the mainland are rich in zooplankton, which is the main food for seals, whales, penguins and fur seals. Live here ice fish - amazing creatures, adapted to existence in ice water.

The large animals of Antarctica include which are attracted here by a large number of shrimp.

Blue-green algae and blue-green algae inhabit fresh lakes. roundworms, there are crustaceans and daphnia.

Birds

For penguins, arctic terns and skuas, Antarctica is their home. The nature of the mainland does not allow more birds to live here. Four species of penguins live in Antarctica. The largest population is imperial. Occasionally on southern mainland petrels fly.

mammals

Antarctica, whose nature is too harsh for animals to live, can only boast of those species that can live both on land and in water. First of all, these are seals. In addition, sea leopards live on the coast and there are small sand or black-and-white dolphins, which whalers call

Predators of Antarctica

A wide variety of predators live on this continent. Their diet mainly consists of planktonic crustaceans. Of these, it is necessary to highlight the sea leopard - the largest seal that feeds on krill. It lives at shallow depths. At the same time, he also has the glory of a predator, which is able to hunt large animals. Such hunting, however, is only seasonal and is designed to diversify the diet, consisting of squid and fish, but it is based on krill. A small number of these marine predators keeps near rookeries and colonies of penguins. In most cases, these giants drift on ice floes along the peninsula and, by the beginning of winter, gather in in large numbers at South Georgia.

Sea leopards are real giants. The officially registered length is 3.8 meters, but larger animals have been encountered.

By autumn, the leopards change their way of life and come close to the shore, along which inexperienced young fur seals and penguins descend.

Invertebrates

To whom the nature of Antarctica is completely suitable, it is invertebrate arthropods. Antarctica is home to 67 species of ticks and four species of lice. There are lice, fleas and, of course, mosquitoes. It should be noted that wingless ringing mosquitoes, which have a jet black color, live only on ice continent. These insects are endemic, belonging to completely land animals.

The bulk of invertebrates and insects are brought to the southern continent by birds.

Tourism

Despite the harsh climate, about six thousand tourists come to Antarctica every year. Most of them go to the Antarctic Peninsula, where there is an airfield and a tourist base. In the 1990s, tourists began to visit the Ross Sea.