The tiny pink mite, measuring 1/100th of an inch in length, is the farthest southern living animal recorded. It eats algae and fungi and resembles a spider. A scientist from Hawaii just found the pink mite very close to the South Pole. It was only 309 miles away. The entomologist also found lichens within 266 miles of the Pole. This is the closest any living thing has ever been found to the Pole.
There are only certain types of animals that take up permanent residence on the Antarctic continent, and they are insectoid. Although your eye can't see them, around 56 species of arthropods have been found there. One insect you could easily see is about the size of a common horsefly. It's a wingless fly. When the temperature finally gets to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the melting point of water, the dormant animals are reactivated.
The waters surrounding the continent are starkly different than the land. They are bustling with life from microscopic shrimp to the blue whale, which is the largest living being on the planet. A view into life in the Antarctic waters was the goal of scientists who used a steel capsule to peer into the lives of the marine animals. Six windows gave the professionals a chance to look into the cold water. A hydrophone was included in the design so that ocean sounds could be recorded.
One jelly fish swam by with tentacles trailing thirty feet behind it. They didn't see many other fish. The chamber did attract the attention of local seals, who surfaced at a nearby ice hole and looked at the chamber itself. Scientists could hear them chirp, beep, buzz and whistle through the hydrophone. The sounds they were recording were unlike any the scientists had heard in the past.
Perhaps they make the noises to communicate with each other and find their way in the cold, dark waters. The navigation theory makes a lot of sense when you consider finding food and air in the darkness of the Antarctic. Scientists are analyzing recordings of the seal sounds. There are some sounds that we, as humans, can't even detect because they are beyond our capabilities.
No one knows exactly how they make the sounds. Underwater finds the seals with sealed nostrils and mouths. Weddell seals can dive very deep; one holds the records for all mammals at nearly 1500 feet. They've even tracked on seal who stayed underwater for 28 minutes before needing to breathe. One zoologist was lucky enough to get a sample of a mother seal's milk. Seal milk has a much higher fat ratio than human milk does. This is one of the reasons that baby seals can gain weight more quickly than any other mammal. Newborn seals can gain five times their own weight in just six weeks.
Using specially-equipped dive suits, scientists have looked at the oceans surrounding Antarctica. They even found red, among other colored, seaweed growing on the sea floor. In addition to this, scientists found red and white star fish species, five-foot-long worms, and sponges that measured four feet in diameter.
There are only certain types of animals that take up permanent residence on the Antarctic continent, and they are insectoid. Although your eye can't see them, around 56 species of arthropods have been found there. One insect you could easily see is about the size of a common horsefly. It's a wingless fly. When the temperature finally gets to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the melting point of water, the dormant animals are reactivated.
The waters surrounding the continent are starkly different than the land. They are bustling with life from microscopic shrimp to the blue whale, which is the largest living being on the planet. A view into life in the Antarctic waters was the goal of scientists who used a steel capsule to peer into the lives of the marine animals. Six windows gave the professionals a chance to look into the cold water. A hydrophone was included in the design so that ocean sounds could be recorded.
One jelly fish swam by with tentacles trailing thirty feet behind it. They didn't see many other fish. The chamber did attract the attention of local seals, who surfaced at a nearby ice hole and looked at the chamber itself. Scientists could hear them chirp, beep, buzz and whistle through the hydrophone. The sounds they were recording were unlike any the scientists had heard in the past.
Perhaps they make the noises to communicate with each other and find their way in the cold, dark waters. The navigation theory makes a lot of sense when you consider finding food and air in the darkness of the Antarctic. Scientists are analyzing recordings of the seal sounds. There are some sounds that we, as humans, can't even detect because they are beyond our capabilities.
No one knows exactly how they make the sounds. Underwater finds the seals with sealed nostrils and mouths. Weddell seals can dive very deep; one holds the records for all mammals at nearly 1500 feet. They've even tracked on seal who stayed underwater for 28 minutes before needing to breathe. One zoologist was lucky enough to get a sample of a mother seal's milk. Seal milk has a much higher fat ratio than human milk does. This is one of the reasons that baby seals can gain weight more quickly than any other mammal. Newborn seals can gain five times their own weight in just six weeks.
Using specially-equipped dive suits, scientists have looked at the oceans surrounding Antarctica. They even found red, among other colored, seaweed growing on the sea floor. In addition to this, scientists found red and white star fish species, five-foot-long worms, and sponges that measured four feet in diameter.
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