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| Which animal is the most important in the Antarctic food chain? Catherine Hollands Hastings, Kent 
Krill is the foundation of the Antarctic food chain and whales, penguins, seals
and many other seabirds depend upon it for their basic food. Just 5 cm long,
the total number of krill in the Southern Ocean is estimated to be an amazing
600 million million, making krill the most numerous creature on Earth.Krill swarm How heavy are seals? Alessandra Stevens Aged 8 Seals are well adapted to life in the polar regions, cushioned and insulated from the cold air by a thick coat of blubber. Antarctic Fur seals weigh 90 – 113kg - females are smaller. Crabeater seals weigh about 227kg – females are slightly smaller. Weddell seals weigh about 450kg for both sexes. Leopard seals weigh about 324kg – females weigh about 367kg Ross seals weigh about 173kg – females weigh about 186kg Southern Elephant seals weigh about 4,000kg – with females weighing about 900kg
What is the habitat of a Snow petrel and how have Snow petrels been affected by humans? Jessie and Siarn Australia
All seabirds, including albatrosses and petrels are becoming increasingly affected by pollution and long-line fisheries (which kill more than 300,000 seabirds a year). To help protect the albatross and petrel populations, The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels exists. This is a legally binding international treaty signed in 2001. It was created in order to halt the decline of their populations in the Southern Hemisphere and the Agreement requires the signatory governments to protect breeding colonies and reduce by-catch of albatrosses and snow petrels by fisheries. 11 countries signed the Agreement in Canberra in June of 2001 and 8 countries, Australia, Ecuador, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Peru and the United Kingdom, have subsequently ratified it. The treaty has also been signed but not ratified by another three countries, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The Agreement came into force on the 1st February 2004. How does HMS Endurance break through the ice in Antarctica? David Terry Hamilton, Bermuda  Modern
icebreakers are designed with an intricate tank system in the bow and stern.
With empty ballast tanks, the ship charges the ice, rising up onto it until the
forward motion has ceased. The forward tanks may then be flooded, and the
concentrated weight usually breaks the ice floes, allowing the vessel to
proceed. The bow tanks would then be emptied, and the process repeated. The
design of the bows also aids the break-up of the ice. The reinforced plating,
both above and below the waterline, the stepped bow, and the ice knife below
the waterline, allow the ship to ride up onto the ice floes and then cut down
into the ice with greater ease. This bow design, combined with the ballast
system, enables such ships to make progress through ice fields devoid of leads.
Should a modern icebreaker become stuck in ice, the intricate ballast system can assist in freeing it. Quickly transferring large amounts of fuel/oil/water from one side to the other in a short period of time (typically 275 tons in 90 secs), sets up a rocking motion that helps the ship to break free from the ice. If fitted with bow and stern thrusters, the ship is also able to induce a yawing movement that can also assist escape. How deep can a baby Blue whale dive? Rosie  A
baby blue whale instinctively swims to the surface within 10 seconds of its
first breath and its mother, using her flippers helps it. Within 30 minutes of
its birth, the baby whale can swim and within hours can swim to a depth of
nearly 10m.
The newborn calf is about 7.6m and weighs about 5.4 - 7.3 tonnes. Twins are extremely rare (about 1% of births) as there is almost always one calf. The baby blue whale is nurtured with its mother's fat-laden milk for about the first 7-8 months of its life, of which a baby blue whale will drink between 23 - 90 kg of milk a day and gain about 90 kg every 24 hours. What has been the biggest iceberg spotted in Antarctica? Lucy and Brooklyn Lapham The biggest iceberg ever spotted off the coast of Antarctica was in March 2000 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NOAA - 12 - polar orbiting satellite. The giant berg, known as B15A was 295 km (183 miles) long, and 37 km (23 miles) wide, with a surface area of 11,000 sq km (4,250 sq miles) - similar in size to The Gambia, Qutar or The Bahamas.
Why do you go to Antarctica? Mrs Henson and Class 6 , St Mary’s School, Whitstable, Kent
What natural resources does Antarctica have? David Wilson West Didsbury, Manchester  Many
people believe that Antarctica is a place of unlimited resource wealth. But the
harsh climate, short work season, and thick ice make the recovery of these
resources very difficult. The economic value of a resource is determined by its
current market value, the cost of moving the resource to where it is needed,
and the cost of moving equipment and workers to recover the resource. The
technology to remove and transport mineral resources from Antarctica has not
yet been developed but as supplies worldwide are depleted, it will become more
cost effective.
Antarctica’s natural resources are: Ice – Antarctica’s ice accounts for 90% of the world’s fresh water Coal – There are coal deposits founds along the coast of Antarctica and throughout the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. Oil – At this time there are no known oil resources in Antarctica Metallic minerals – It is believed that, since the other continents that were once attached to Antarctica to form Gondwana have metallic and non-metallic minerals; Antarctica probably has the same supplies. It is also known that rock layers such as those in Antarctica commonly contain large amounts of cobalt, chromium, nickel, vanadium, copper, iron and platinum group minerals. Mining is banned in the Antarctic by the Antarctic Treaty, and there are no known future plans by the Antarctic Treaty nations to reverse this decision. What colours are the fish in Antarctica? Miss Wallace and Class 2 Manor Park Infant School Basingstoke Of the 20,000 or so species of fish in the world, Antarctica has about 200 different types of fish and they come in lots of colours with some amazing names. The Antarctic Spiny Plunder fish is blue and yellow, while the Crocodile Dragon fish is a mid-brown colour. One large fish in Antarctica that is very unique is the Ice fish. This is a transparent fish with a sort of anti-freeze mixture in its body instead of blood and this keeps it warm in the cold water.
Why is snow white? Hilary Williamson Barnes, London Visible sunlight is white. Most natural materials absorb some sunlight, which gives them their colour. Snow, however, reflects most of the sunlight. The complex structures of snowflakes result in countless tiny surfaces from which visible light is efficiently reflected. What light sunlight is absorbed by snow is absorbed uniformly over the wavelengths of visible light so giving snow its white appearance.
Which species of penguin is the strongest? Sam and Chucks Class 5, St Ippolyts School We think the strongest penguin is the Emperor penguin for a number of reasons:
What is the weight of our planet? Jade Morris Aged 11 Essex The Earth weighs 5,976 million million tonnes. The Sun is 323,000 times heavier than the Earth – that is nearly 2,000 million million million million tonnes. These weights can be explained another way. If the Earth weighed as much as a ping pong ball, the Sun would weigh 830 kg, which is as much as a family car!
How long do seals live for? George and Christopher Class 3, St Ippolyts School  If seals
in Antarctica can avoid being eaten by their natural enemies they can live
between 15 - 20 years. The natural enemies of seals include:
Leopard seals - While half their diet is krill, leopard seals can become among the most impressive predators in the ocean, taking a variety of prey including other seals, particularly the young crabeaters. Killer Whales – They are the only whales that take warm-blooded mammals and, in the Antarctic, their main prey is other seals. Killer whales hunt together in groups called pods and members of the pod co-ordinate their movements through an endless stream of clicks and calls.
How many miles is it from Portsmouth to Antarctica? Christopher Clark Antarctica is absolutely enormous and so to give you an accurate figure; we have used Mount Erebus as our pinpoint. Mount Erebus is an active volcano in Antarctica and is featured on most maps.
 How many
types of seal live in Antarctica?Charlotte and Eleanor Class 3, St Ippolyts School The four true Antarctic species are the leopard, the crabeater, the Weddell and the Ross seal. The Antarctic fur seal and the southern elephant seal, the largest of all the seals, are plentiful elsewhere in the sub-Antarctic islands, southern South America and the southern end of the Antarctic Peninsula.  How big is
the whale population in Antarctica?Darlene Roberts, Mandarah, Western Australia It is well known that hunting dramatically reduced the whale population in the Southern Ocean, yet reliable estimates of current whale numbers are elusive. The IUCN – The World Conservation Union is dedicated to natural resource conservation and their Red List of Threatened Species, is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plants and animal species. Species are classified into 9 groups set through criteria such as rate of decline, population, size, area of geographical distribution, and degree of population and distribution fragmentation. A complete list of whale conservation statuses as listed by the IUCN is given below. Critically endangered: Grey Whale (Northwest Pacific population) Endangered: Blue Whale (intermedia suspecies), Fin Whale, North Pacific Right Whale, North Atlantic Right Whale, Sei Whale. Vulnerable: Beluga, Blue Whale (musculus subspecies – Atlantic population), Humpback Whale, Sperm Whale. Lower Risk (Conservation Dependent): Antarctic Minke Whale, Arnoux’s Beaked Whale, Baird’s Beaked Whale, Blue Whale (musculus subspecies – Pacific population), Bowhead Whale, Grey Whale (Northeast Pacific population), Northern Bottlenose Whale, Southern Bottlenose Whale, Short-finned Pilot Whale, Southern Right Whale. Lower Risk (Near Threatened): Minke Whale Lower Risk (Least Concern): Dwarf Sperm Whale, Pygmy Right Whale, Long-finned Pilot Whale, Pygmy Sperm Whale, Melon-headed Whale. A translation of these classifications into figures is quite difficult, as there are only crude estimates of the whale population available. For example, the total Fin Whale population is estimated to be just in excess of 100,000 while the Blue Whale population is likely to be about 10,000. How many Ships begin with `HMS’? Lucy Aged 7
How deep can penguins dive? Max Smith – Aged 8, St Ippolyts School  Early
explorers to Antarctica thought penguins were fish. In fact, as birds, they are
fantastically designed for their job, flying underwater with great skill.
King penguins are deep-divers, as they feed extensively on lantern fish and squid. On average, half their dives last up to eight minutes and can take them to a depth exceeding 50m (164 ft); the deepest recorded dive by a King penguin has been in excess of 240m (787ft). Emperor penguins are also deep-divers, hunting fish and squid mostly at about 50m (165ft), but down to as much as 265m (870ft). Gentoo penguins tend to dive for fish and crustaceans in quick dives that last for only half a minute or so. Gentoos dive in shallow waters for krill or over 100m (328ft) down for fish. Adélie penguins cluster in huge colonies all around the Antarctic continent, fishing for krill. The maximum recorded fishing depth for an Adélie penguin dive was to 175m (547ft), but most food is probably caught in surface waters. Chinstrap penguins are mini-mountaineers, as they like nesting on rocky and ice-free slopes. In the water, Chinstrap penguins have been known to dive to a depth of 70m (230ft) but many dives are inside the 10m (33ft) zone and last for just half a minute. Rockhopper penguins are the smallest polar penguins, weighing only about 2.5kg (5.5lb), as against the Emperor’s 30kg (98lb)! Little is known about the Rockhopper’s diving abilities, but as a deep-sea penguin, it dives mainly for krill, possibly small fish and squid. Macaroni penguins dive mainly for krill and squid, and some fish, working mostly in the top 20m (65ft), but sometimes down to a depth of 80m (262ft). What clothes do you wear in Antarctica? Charlotte Argyle – Aged 7
How long do killer whales live for? George Aged 8  The Orca,
also known as the killer whale, is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin
family and it is the second-most widely distributed mammal on Earth after
humans.
Typically females live to the age of 50, but may well survive well into their eighties or nineties in exceptional cases. Males live to about the age of 30 on average, and to 50 in exceptional cases. How did Elephant Island get its name? Shauna Tanner, Saskatchewan, Canada Elephant Island is a small, ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica. The island got its name in the 1820s when elephant seals were hunted there. The island is most famous as the refuge Ernest Shackleton’s men following the loss of their ship Endurance in Antarctica.
What is Antarctica like at night? Bethany and Charlotte, Class 3, St Ippolyts School  During
Antarctica’s summer months of November to January, Antarctica has 24 hour
daylight and the Sun shines, even at midnight. Why does this happen? As the
Earth orbits (circles round) the sun, it spins once on its axis, every 24
hours. The Earth’s axis also tilts over at an angle. This means some
places on Earth tilt away from the sun and others tilt towards the sun, so some
places have longer hours of daylight. This is also why the length of the days
and nights changes throughout the year.
Aurora Australis display During Antarctica’s winter the sun doesn’t rise at all and it has 24 hours of darkness for weeks on end. During the winter months you can see a spectacular sight called the aurora australis which is caused by the entry of solar particles into the Earth’s magnetic field and creates an amazing polar light show. Aurora is the old Roman name for the goddess of dawn and australis means southern. A similar display in the Arctic is called the aurora borealis. Which seal is the most abundant in Antarctica? Dafia Hudson, Aged 9, Wellington, New Zealand  Crabeater
seals are the most abundant seal in the world with a global population
estimated to be between 15 – 40 million. No one seems to be able to give a
reason why crabeater seals have this name, as they do not eat crabs! Crabeater
seals eat krill and it’s thought that the population of crabeater seals in
the Antarctic eats their way through 100 million tonnes of krill each year.
Crabeater seal How long do Emperor penguins live for? Amber, Class 3, St Ippolyts School  Emperor
penguins live around the Antarctic continent and at the Dion Islands at the
southern end of the peninsula. Emperor penguins can have a life span of 40
years if they manage not to get eaten by southern giant petrels, leopard seals
or killer whales.Emperor penguins How cold is Antarctica? Joe and Tyla, Class 3, St Ippolyts School Antarctica is the coldest of our continents. Around the South Pole, the average annual temperature is a f-f-freezing -49°C. However, that is quite warm compared to the lowest temperature ever recorded in the world, taken in 1983 at the Vostok Research Station in Antarctica –89.6°C.  These
temperatures don’t take into account the effect of the wind on a
person’s body in Antarctica called wind chill. Antarctica has the
strongest winds in the world and the stronger the wind; the more quickly a
human loses body heat. A person in - 10°C facing a wind moving at 10km/h can
lose as much heat as a person in calm air of -70°C. Antarctica’s winds
create almost impossible conditions to try and travel or work in.
Photograph courtesy of the British Antarctic Survey What does Sir Ernest Shackleton’s monument look like in South Georgia? Ray Burton, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Dear Anchor, How are icebergs formed and how big do they get? Class 1F, Daneshill School, Hook, Hampshire Icebergs are enormous chunks of ice that break away from glaciers and ice shelves and this breaking off process is called “calving”.
Icebergs can be any size from that of a small car to the area of a large town. Icebergs can last for up to six years and they gradually melt as they drift into warmer waters. One iceberg from Antarctica almost reached Rio de Janeiro in Brazil – a journey of 5,500 km. Why is pancake ice called pancake ice? Julian Marshall, Cardiff, Wales Pancake ice are round, flat plates of ice that look like pancakes and are formed when the sea around Antarctica begins to freeze in the onset of winter.
What sorts of plants grow in Antarctica? Elizabeth, India, Kirstie and Brooklyn, Class 3, St Ippolyts School  The
only plants that grow in Antarctica are mosses and lichens that grow on bare
areas of rock that are not covered by snow or ice. One of the ways that lichens
survive the freezing cold in Antarctica is to grow as slowly as possible. There
may be only one or two days a year when it’s actually warm enough to grow
and so a patch of lichen the size of small melon may be hundreds of years old.
However, Antarctica was not always cold. Scientists have found fossils of plants; trees and animals that show it once had a much warmer climate. About 200 million years ago the continents of Australia, South America and Antarctica were joined together and Antarctica had lush, green forests. Then, about 180 million years ago, the continents split apart and over millions of years the continents drifted to where they are positioned today. Because Antarctica drifted to the South Pole, it became cold and icy. How many seals are there in Antarctica? Eleanor Lewis, Aged 8 
The answer we have for you comes from the British Antarctic Survey on Bird Island. It is very difficult to know exactly how many seals are in Antarctica. This is because some seals not only live in Antarctica, but also visit other places in some months of the year and we do not know exactly where they go. So, we cannot count them. Photograph courtesy of Tony Hall Another reason is because Antarctica is such a big place that if we had to travel to every corner where seals live it would take us a lot of years, and by the time we had finished counting, most of the counted seals would be very old and they would have gone, so we would have to start again. But, we can give you an idea of the number of seals that we believe live in Antarctica. It is not an exact number, it is more like a guess, such as the one you would make if you went to a crowded theatre, with the lights off, and somebody asked you how many people you thought there were.We are working on the science of seal counting at the moment and we might get better numbers soon. In the meantime, here is our best knowledge: Elephant seals 216,000 Leopard seals 330,000 Ross seals 220,000 Weddell seals 800,000 Crabeater seals 15,000,000 Antarctic fur seals 4,600,000 All Antarctic seals 21,324,000 Jaume, Sarah and Donald, The team of seal scientists at Bird Island Do birds often fly around Antarctica? Alessandra and Sasha, Class 3, St Ippolyts School  Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands are home to an amazing variety of birds. The most commonly recorded bird in Antarctic waters and possibly the most numerous seabird in the world is the Wilson’s Storm-Petrel which has a population well into the millions. Other birds that can be found in and around Antarctica include the Wandering Albatross (the world’s largest flying bird), the Antarctic Tern and the South Polar Skua, the most southerly bird in the world. South Polar Skuas are birds of prey and eat everything from sea-fish, krill, and penguin chicks to Wilson’s Storm-Petrels in flight. South Polar Skua Why do penguins live in Antarctica? India Clements Aged 8 
While penguins live in other places apart from Antarctica, the one thing that
all these locations have in common is cold water. Penguins cannot tolerate warm
seawater and so they are restricted to living in places with very cold water.
There have been experiments in the past to introduce king, macaroni and jackass penguins to the Lofoten Islands, off the Norwegian coast but these experiments were unsuccessful because there wasn’t enough of them to encourage nesting. Penguins are very sociable birds and the penguins that you see in zoos are kept in fairly large numbers so they breed easily. What do leopard seals eat? Laureen Williams, California Leopard seals are built for speed and this helps them catch their prey. They chase and catch penguins in the water, bringing them to the surface, shaking them severely before eating them. Leopard seals are opportunistic feeders as they also eat fish, krill and other seals particularly young crabeaters. Leopard seals have a reputation for aggressiveness, and have been known to puncture inflatable boats.
Why is a macaroni penguin called a macaroni penguin? Lucy Lapham, Aged 7  The
name `macaroni’ comes from the 18th century wealthy gentlemen who went to
Italy to learn about their culture. Some of these gentlemen were so taken with
an Italian fashion to have your hair dyed in streaks and extended crests over
their ears, that they copied it. When people in England saw this hairstyle,
they didn’t know what to think and so they called the gentlemen
`macaronis’ after Italian pasta. Your parents might know an American song
that starts, `Yankee-doodle went to town, riding on a pony, stuck a feather in
his cap and called it macaroni!’.
When British sailors and US started exploring the south, they promptly christened the crested macaroni penguins after the hairstyle. Macaroni Penguin How many Chefs do you have on HMS Endurance? Charlotte, Class 3, St Ippolyts School > HMS Endurance has a team of 4 Chefs and it is their job to feed the Ship’s Company of 125 personnel, including 6 Royal Marines.
How many types of penguin are there in the world? Samuel Puckey, Jessica, Max, Lucy and Ruby, Aged 8, Class 3, St Ippolyts School There are 17 or 18 types of penguin in the world and here is a list for you:
Galapagos penguins – not everyone includes these when talking about penguin types and this is why the species number is 17 or 18.
What do Elephant seals feed on? Christan and Ryan, Class 3, St Ippolyts School Elephant seals live off a diet of mostly squid, with about ¼ of their diet as fish. Elephant seals have specially adapted cheek teeth so they can really tuck into their squid!
How long do seals live for? Katie and Ben, Class 3, St Ippolyts School Killer whales are the natural enemy of all seals in Antarctica. Killer whales are perfectly capable of tipping an ice floe over in order to topple a sleeping seal into their jaws! However, if a seal is lucky it may well live to be 12 years old.
How long are Blue whales? Joe and Tyla, Class 3, St Ippolyts School The Blue whale is the largest animal which has ever lived on earth and fully grown will reach 23m (75ft).
How big are penguins? Ryan Smith Aged 8 There are 17 species of penguin in the world but here is a list of the penguin species and their heights, that can be found in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Islands. King Penguin – 95 cm Emperor Penguin – 115cm Gentoo Penguin – 76 – 81cm Adélie Penguin – 75 cm Chinstrap Penguin – 68 – 77cm Rockhopper Penguin – 55cm Macaroni Penguin – 70cm
Where in the Southern Hemisphere do penguins live? David Rainier, Blackburn, Lancashire All 17 species of penguins live south of the Equator. Penguins live along the western and southern coasts of South America, the tip of Africa, southern Australia, New Zealand, and all round Antarctica. One species, the Galapagos penguin, lives on the Equator in the path of the cold Peru Current. Seven kinds of penguins visit Antarctica, but only two species, the Adelie and Emperor penguins, breed exclusively on the Antarctic continent.
What do walruses use their tusks for? Gail and Bryony aged 9 and 10, Melbourne, Australia A walrus uses its long tusks to chip shellfish from rocks and break breathing holes in the ice. The males also use their tusks to fight off rivals and attract a mate.
How big is a baby Blue whale when it is born? Oliver Davies aged 8, Bristol. When a baby Blue whale is born, it weighs between 2-3 tonnes. It drinks about 200 litres of its mother’s milk a day, and by seven months old, it weighs 20 tonnes!
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Dear Anchor, We are in Year 2 at Hambledon Infant School in Hampshire and we
are interested in Antarctica because it is our topic at the moment. Are you
taking any machines or helicopters to Antarctica? Are you taking any dogs? How
many more kilometres until you reach Antarctica? Do you have to wear warm
clothes before you get to Antarctica?
Henry, Tom, Sarah, Rose, Joey and Jake Year 2 – Hambledon Infant School, Hampshire Thank you for all your questions. As we have just left Brazil, we have about 8500km to go before HMS Endurance reaches Antarctica. After a brief stop in the Falkland Islands, we will be in Antarctica for the beginning of December. Dogs aren’t allowed in Antarctica to help with polar expeditions anymore, so we have no dogs with us. HMS Endurance carries 2 Linx helicopters on board and they’re used to help the BAS Scientists get to all the difficult to reach places in Antarctica. The further south HMS Endurance sails, the colder it will get now, so Reckless and I will have to wear very warm clothing long before we get to Antarctica.
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Tracey Ross, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. What is inside our Earth? Earth’s core is thought to be made of churning, molten iron, with a solid inner part. The swirling motion of the iron creates both the magnetic poles, and a natural magnetic field around our planet. This deflects deadly rays from the Sun.
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To Captain Nick and all the crew.
Is Anchor Bear feeling lonely now that he has left us all? We all hope he is not feeling seasick. We now have an enormous world map in our hall so that we can track your journey. We are excited about this. We wondered if you have ever seen fireworks on your journeys before? We hope you have a safe journey with no-one falling overboard or being too ill. From Class 5 at Manor Field Infant School Basingstoke, Hampshire  Dear
Class 5, Anchor Bear is safe and happy and enjoying the company of Pudsey Bear
and Reckless the Bear, who are also travelling down to Antarctica with us.
> Unfortunately, we don’t carry fireworks onboard, so we don’t get to celebrate Bonfire Night on the ship. However, the Ship’s Company got to watch the fantastic fireworks in Portsmouth, after the International Fleet Review this summer when Her Majesty the Queen was our guest onboard HMS Endurance. |
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What kinds of animals live in Antarctica?
Mr Aitchison and Class 5C Crofton Hammond Junior School Hampshire  Because
Antarctica is so cold, the only permanent residents on the Antarctic mainland
are insects. However, penguins and seals make their homes on the ice at the
edge of the ocean. The largest member of the penguin family in Antarctica is he
emperor. It stands over 1m tall and weighs up to 40kg.
In the Southern Ocean, around Antarctica, the waters are teeming with life. Bright orange sea spiders, worms and other strange creatures are found on the sea floor, while in deep water, strange fish like the deep-sea angler can be found. The largest marine animals, whales, are also found in the waters around Antarctica. There are two groups of whales – toothed whales, which feed on squid and fish and baleen whales, which feed on krill, tiny crustaceans, similar to shrimps. |
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