What Exactly Can Live In The Antarctic?

Tiny at only one hundredth of an inch long, the animal that chooses to live the farthest south is a pink mite. Spider-like, this tiny life forms eats fungi and algae. Imagine the delight a scientist from Hawaii felt when he found the pink mite living a mere 309 miles from the South Pole. Amazingly, this same scientist found lichens only 266 miles from the South Pole. This is as far south as any living organism has been found.

The only animals that can withstand the yearly weather of Antarctica are insects and insect-like, according to a popular magazine article. There are fifty-six species of arthropods on the continent. You'll need magnification to see most of them. At about the same size as a horsefly, a wingless fly is the biggest. During the severe winters, the animals hibernate, but when the air reaches the melting point of water, thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, they come back to life.

In stark contrast to the barren land, Antarctic waters are filled with a variety of animal life forms. They range in size from tiny, microscopic animals to the great blue whale. Scientist, in the search for more knowledge of sea life, put a six by four foot capsule under the water. As they took turns, the scientists watched the sea life around them through six windows. A built-in hydrophone also let them hear the sounds in the water.

There weren?t a lot of fish to be seen, but a jelly fish did cross their path. It had thirty-foot tentacles. Seals were constantly surrounding the chamber. They were very curious about it. The various seal sounds filled the hydrophone. Scientists recorded buzzes, beeps, chirps, and whistles. This was a din that hadn?t ever been heard, according to one scientist.

Scientists speculate that the seals are using this noise to both communicate and find their way in the dark waters. The navigation theory makes a lot of sense when you consider finding food and air in the darkness of the Antarctic. The sounds the seals have made are being thoroughly examined here. There are some sounds that we, as humans, can't even detect because they are beyond our capabilities.

The creation of these sounds by the seals still stumps scientists. Both their nostrils and mouths are tightly closed when in the water. Weddell seals have been recorded diving up to 1500 feet in depth. This is the farthest any mammal has ever been officially recorded as diving. Another record Weddell seals hold is that one stay underwater for 28 minutes. A zoologist was able to collect a sample of mother's milk from a Weddell seal. It was found that this seal milk had a higher fat content than human milk, and allowed the seal pups to gain weight faster than any other mammals. It only takes newborn seals six weeks to increase its weight by five times.

The Antarctic seas were probed by scientists in frogman diving suits. They found red seaweed, as well as other seaweed, growing on the bottom. Starfish, sponges and worms also inhabited the ocean?s floor.

Article Source: TravelFreeGuides.com

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by: Bill Morris

Total views: 1 Word Count: 525 Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 Time: 4:22 AM - 0 comments

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