Researchers from Saudi Arabia have returned from the country’s first scientific mission to Antarctica, sharing videos of the adorable animals they saw during their trip – including several species of penguin.
The wildlife spotting was made easier by the hours of midnight sun. “There was a period of around three to four weeks where we did not see the night or moon at all, as it would always be day,” says Diego Rivera, marine and biodiversity researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
They spotted four different species of penguins: chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarcticus), Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua), Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) and king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus).
Adélie penguins “were always funny to watch,” says Rivera. “Whenever they wanted to jump into the water, they would do so by falling from the rocks. Sometimes they’d regret their decision last-minute and turn back around.”
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"We visited an island full of their hatcheries which was covered in ice, and you could see trails formed by penguins passing through and sliding on their bellies,” he says.
They were somewhat surprised to see the penguins and sea lions quite close to each other on the beaches. “Only a few times when a sea lion or seal would get up and start heading towards water would penguins start running away,” he says.
Some of the animals they saw had probably never seen a human before – especially on Orkney and Elephant islands. “We were the first,” he says. “They would be curious but cautious… even walking behind us when we were not noticing.”
During the expedition, the scientists were trying to find out how important whales are to the ecosystem and in the carbon cycle. “Antarctica is a useful landscape to study this, as whale hunting has been well documented from the late 1800s and affected populations severely, so we can study the historical changes,” says Rivera.
Main image: Antarctica/Getty
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