#NatGeoPhotographer Paul Nicklen reveals he was almost killed by horny elephant seal: zorz.it/LhKTg
#MattGrowcoot #SouthGeorgia #Antarctica #CristinaMittermeier #SeaLegacy #PaulNicklen #horny #ElephantSeal #wild
The #FalklandsWar began on #ThisDayInHistory in 1982 with occupation of #SouthGeorgia. #Argentina's dictatorship, deeply unpopular, stoked #nationalism to stay in power. #Thatcher, also unpopular (16% approval in '81) did the same. 649 Argentine & 258 British lives were the cost.
South Georgia’s dramatic coastline was once the heart of the Antarctic whaling industry, where seven shore-based stations processed tens of thousands of whales between 1904 and 1965 🐋📜
🔗 Read more here: zurl.co/yG1YG
#southgeorgia #travel #history
It's wild weather en route from #SouthGeorgia to the South Sandwich Islands - but the albatrosses love it. This Blackbrowed circles us for hours without the need ever to flap it wings.
A Fin whale and its young escort us in heavy seas as we head out from #SouthGeorgia towards the rarely-visited South Sandwich islands. The Fin is the second largest of all whales, coming in at an average 27m.
A very rare sight, on the beach at Elsehul, #SouthGeorgia: a leucistic Gentoo penguin. Penguins' white bellies/black backs help them evade underwater predators, so leucistics have a lower chance of survival. But unlike albinos, they have pigmented eyes & can see normally.
1916, Fortuna Bay #SouthGeorgia: Ernest Shackleton & his two companions, after unimaginable hardships following the crushing of the Endurance in Antarctic ice 1300 miles away, stood here & heard the early-morning whistle from Stromness whaling station. Help was finally at hand.
Adolescent Southern elephant seals hanging out together, Fortuna Bay, #SouthGeorgia. Their strategy to keep warm is not fur, but thick blubber; slow and passive on land (except when breeding...), they're fast in the water & can dive up to 2000m.
Once reduced to only a few hundred, 3.5m Antarctic fur seals (98% of the world's population) now make their home in #SouthGeorgia. They're inquisitive - bordering on aggressive - so it can be quite difficult to remain the required 5m away; a bite on the ankle is not recommended..
There's a massive iceberg grounded in Fortuna Bay, #SouthGeorgia. At the sound of a great roar, I turn: a chunk of the berg is calving. The King penguins are as startled as I am and flee in panic (Note: no penguins or humans were harmed!)
The world's southernmost church (1913) - Grytviken, #SouthGeorgia. Carl Anton Larsen, the founder of the whaling station, was a devout Christian, the tough 🇳🇴/ 🇬🇧whalers much less so. Neither the church nor the adjoining library ever got much use; it was more popular as a cinema
At the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken, #SouthGeorgia, Antarctic fur seals loll around contendedly by a rusting whale-catcher. Between 1904 and 1966, 200,000 whales were slaughtered here and at subsidiary stations, by mainly🇳🇴 whalers under 🇬🇧 license.
It's blowing 50-60 kts north of #SouthGeorgia, but we're surrounded by spouting whales. An Antarctic Blue Whale - the largest creature ever to have lived - surfaces beside us like a nuclear submarine. About 1500 remain, from a pre-whaling population of 250,000. What a spectacle!
5 - 10m penguins make #SouthGeorgia their home (depending on the season), of which one million are Kings. This is surely one of the greatest natural spectacles on earth (the population of humans is about 8 scientists in winter, 30 in summer.)
Antarctic fur seals were hunted to the brink of extinction. There are now 4m on #SouthGeorgia, but bird flu is a new threat; on some beaches there are many dead. Present since 2023, it's killed mainly seals, not so much birds. At least this means carrion for the Giant Petrels.
The easiest way of determining the sex of a King penguin is (seriously...) the worn patches on the lower back of the female 😉 Right Whale bay, #SouthGeorgia
An artisitic rendering of a #colony of king #penguins lining both sides of a glacial stream.
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#kingpenguins #southgeorgia #artistic #river #wildlife #wildlifephotography #birds #birdphotography #birdwatching #nature #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt @joancarroll
Right Whale bay, #SouthGeorgia. The sealers who first sailed the Antarctic thought the brown furry creatures (L) they found were a separate species from the elegant King penguins (R). They are chick/adult. They called the chicks Oakum Boys after a wooden-boat caulking material
A gloomy afternoon as we land by the King Penguin colony at Right Whale bay, #SouthGeorgia. Hard to believe, but many of the penguins, who are moulting and unable to swim at this time, are standing in the stream so as to cool off (it's about 2deg C).
This prehistoric-looking monster is a Southern Giant Petrel, seen here munching on seal entrails at Right Whale bay, #SouthGeorgia. On account of their diet (carrion), they're known in the Falklands/Malvinas as "Stinkers". But they fly as beautifully as any albatross.
An elephant #seal bellowing ith its hind flippers up in the air.
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#elephantseal #southgeorgia #marine #mammal #marinelife #wildlife #wildlifephotography #beach #coastal #ocean #shoreline #travel #travelphotography #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt #giftideas @joancarroll
A rare leucistic (white morph) Antarctic fur seal snoozes on the beach at Right Whale bay, #SouthGeorgia. About one in 1000 seals are born with this genetic condition (not the same as albinism); they seem to survive well enough (now that seal hunting is not a thing...)
Squabbling Macaroni penguins at Right Whale Bay, #SouthGeorgia. The most numerous of all penguin species (total pop about 18m), this island is their main home. The name is derived from a 1770s' fashion style adopted by foppish, androgynous men in England (!)
Elephant seal lying on its back on a beach on South Georgia Island.
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#elephantseal #beach #southgeorgia #antarctic #wildlife #wildlifephotography #nature #ocean #buyart #artforsale #artstore #travel #travelphotography #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt @joancarroll
Fur seal on a rocky #beach with its head and neck thrown back.
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#furseal #seal #southgeorgia #wildlife #wildlifephotography #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #coastal #grayscale #nature #buyart #wallart #artforsale #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt @joancarroll
An #iceberg floats in the #ocean in front of a mountain with a #glacier tumbling down the side.
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#southgeorgia #goldharbor #ice #winter #mountains #winter #landscape #nature #buyart #artforsale #travel #travelphotography #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt @joancarroll
Two king #penguins showing #bonding behavior, with one draping its head and neck over the head of the other.
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#kingpenguins #southgeorgia #Antarctic #wildlife #wildlifephotography #birds #birdphotography #birdwatching #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt @joancarroll
A large group of king #penguins in various of molting is reflected in a stream at Salisbury Plain on South Georgia Island.
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#kingpenguins #reflections #southgeorgia #wildlife #wildlifephotography #birds #birdphotography #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt @joancarroll
