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Questions & Answers
What would the world look like if all the ice on the planet completely melted because of global warming?
Mary Hargreaves, Basingstoke
From space the world would look much bluer.
If the Antarctic ice cap all melted, Antarctica would no longer be a single continent and Greenland would essentially disappear.
How Antarctica would look if all the ice sheet melted (Antarctica's rock
surface)
The sea level would rise and the seashore would move inland and most coastal areas and cities (like London, Hong Kong, New York, and Beijing) would be flooded.
All land masses on Earth would be a lot smaller than they are today.
How tall do Emperor penguins grow?
Billy and Finley, St Ippolyts School
The Emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species. It is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica. They stand almost 1.2m tall and weigh 30 to 40 kg.
Emperor penguins
Why do scientists study ice cores in Antarctica?
Eleanor Goodman, Bolton
To understand the behaviour of the Antarctica’s ice sheet, it is also necessary to understand the physical properties of ice as a material.
Scientist handling an ice core
As snow falls, it carries with it minute bubbles of air and traces of any impurities in the atmosphere at the time. When the snow becomes buried and compressed into ice, those impurities and samples of air are trapped too. In this way, the snow layers become a permanent record of atmospheric conditions going back far into the past. The precise chemical composition of the trapped air holds a clue to the climate at the time the snow fell and careful analysis can reveal today just what that composition is. Equally, it is now possible to detect minute traces of impurities in snow samples.
To investigate conditions in the past, scientists need to drill out a long core from deep into the ice sheet. Small samples from along the core can then be analysed to see how thing have changed over time.
The records of impurities contained in the Antarctic snow layers are very significant in studies of global pollution. Antarctica is as remote as it is possible to be from the world’s industrialized areas, so impurities, such as lead, found in its snow are a fair indication of the world’s pollution problems.
What is the difference between whiteouts and blizzards?
James Connor Age 12, Liverpool
Whiteouts are a typical Antarctic condition, in which there are no shadows or contrasts between objects. A uniformly grey on white sky over a snow-covered surface can yield these whiteouts, which cause a loss of depth perception for both humans and wildlife.
Whiteout in Antarctica
Blizzards are another peculiar Antarctic condition, in which very little, if any snow actually falls. Instead the snow is picked up and blown along the surface by the wind, resulting in blinding conditions in which objects less than a metre away may be invisible.
Blizzard in Antarctica
Which penguins lay their eggs on rocks?
Joe & Billy, St Ippolyts School
Here is a brief description of how the different species of penguins in Antarctica build their nests:
Gentoos usually build circles of piled stones, pebbles, grass or sticks and nest where there is no shortage of possibilities. They are known to nest on steep ridges, low hilltops, open beaches or on flat areas of rocky coastline.
Emperor penguins breed on sea-ice. Emperor penguins don’t establish any nest and seem to only own the ice around where they choose to breed. A single egg is laid in May/early June, at the start of Antarctica’s coldest weather and this is incubated by the male.
Adélie penguins make nests from small pebbles and stones and nest in colonies on the ice-free slopes of rocky coasts, headlands and islands, on high ground, often far from the open water but offering a practicable route to the sea. Two eggs are laid in mid-November, and then incubated for about 34 days.
King penguins breed in colonies on sub-Antarctic islands in the lower latitudes. They make no nest but choose places like raised beaches with easy access to the water to maintain some territory. The first eggs are laid in late November and incubated by both parents.
Chinstraps mostly inhabit islands of the Scotia Arc, on the coasts of the South Orkneys, South Shetlands and South Sandwitch Islands. These penguins are mini-mountaineers, choosing rocky and ice-free slopes in areas as high as 100m. Chinstraps normally lay two eggs between late November through till late December.
Rockhopper penguins are true to their name and breed amongst the rocks on rocky ground, rocky shores and lava flows close to the sea on Kerguelen, Macdonald and Heard Islands. There is also a large population on the Falkland Islands. The nest usually holds two eggs; one being half as big again as the other, but almost always the smaller egg is lost or fails to incubate.
Gentoo penguins nesting in Antarctica
Anybody have any news on the proposed expedition that was to send an ROV down to find the wreck of the Antarctic this Antarctic summer? From some research it appears 2007 will be the year a search for the wreck will be done by a consortium led by David Mearns of Deep WaterRecoveries, discoverer of the Bismarck and Hood wrecks. Do hope it all comes about!
John Mann, Cheshire
The expedition you are referring to has been focused on locating the shipwreck of the Swedish polar research vessel the Antarctic, which sank in the Erebus and Terror Gulf in 1903, and on investigating an active hydrothermal vent that HMS Endurance found while searching for the shipwreck last year. Plans to film both the possible wreck targets and the hydrothermal vent using a towed underwater camera system had to be aborted at the last minute because of logistical problems. The expedition was to be funded by sponsors SAAB Underwater Systems from Sweden and Kongsberg Maritime from Norway. In lieu of the underwater filming the current expedition shall concentrate on collecting additional multi-beam echosounder data to help confirm the identity of the primary wreck targets and to further characterize the hydrothermal vent. A Geologist and Biologist from the British Antarctic Survey have been on board HMS Endurance to oversee collection of the data and interpret the results. If David Mearns, with the help of his sponsors, the RN, and BAS, is successful in finding and filming the wreck of the Antarctic then it is hoped this will lead to a much larger and more ambitious expedition to find the wreck of Shackleton’s Endurance which lies in considerably deeper water.
The crushing of Endurance
How does the wildlife in Antarctica keep warm?
Kris, Holland
Large animals, such as whales, seals and penguins, have a thick layer of fat called blubber under their skins. This fat layer acts as an insulator to keep these animals warm. Fish, such as the naked dragon and the Antarctic cod, survive in the cold waters of Antarctica because of a special substance inside their blood called glycopeptide. This substance acts much like antifreeze. Antifreeze added to the water in a car's radiator keeps the water from turning to ice just as glycopeptide keeps the blood of these Antarctic fish from freezing.
Penguins on an iceberg
How did the King penguin get its name?
Alyssa
King penguins breed on sub-Antarctic islands and their great stronghold is South Georgia where some 100,000 pairs of kings breed.
King penguins were first named when Captain James Cook discovered South Georgia in 1775 and named it for King George III. Cook promptly took possession of some king penguins and also named them for King George III.
King penguins
If the ocean water around Antarctica is salt water, and we use salt to melt ice on our roads in winter, why doesn’t the ocean water melt the ice of Antarctica?
Trevor, Frances and Lizzie Skinner, Midhurst, Sussex
Salt in the ocean or on icy roads helps to lower the temperature at which the water freezes, it doesn’t prevent freezing altogether. Even the ocean can freeze if is cold enough, and it does near Antarctica. On roads, salt lowers the freezing point a few degrees which is enough to melt the ice if it is around the freezing temperature of water (0°C). If it gets much colder than that you might notice that the salt isn’t as effective at melting the snow as it is when it is nearer to 0ºC
HMS Endurance ice breaking in Antarctica
How long do Adélie penguins live for?
Rahul and Arran, Class 3, St Ippolyts
Along with the emperor penguin, the Adélie is the only other truly Antarctic penguin. It breeds further south than any penguin.
Adélies live in colonies involving many thousands of pair and the total population is somewhere in the region of two and a half million pairs. Adélies are vulnerable to Antarctica’s adverse weather conditions as snow falling on downy chicks may melt and cause death from chilling. If Adélies survive the first two or three years they may live to 10 or 12.
What does the inside of Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds look like?
Brian Williams, Camden, London
The Cape Royds hut, which measures 6m by 7m, was built in London before being transported to Antarctica and erected in 1908. It was named after Lieutenant Charles Royds, the meteorologist of the Discovery expedition.
The hut contains literally thousands of artefacts associated with Shackleton’s British Antarctic (Nimrod) Expedition 1907-9. Clothing, sledges, thousands of tins of food and other polar exploration related equipment.
How are whales able to breathe air and dive for long periods?
Freddie Bradt, Cologne, Germany
Whales, dolphins and porpoises are totally adapted to a life at sea, but as air-breathing mammals, they must surface to breathe.
In diving, the blow-hole is firmly closed, and the heart-rate is slowed down. Whales are tolerant of a high concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood. The result is that they are able to hold their breath for periods which would drown a land animal. For example, a sperm whale usually dives for about ten minutes followed by about ten blows at intervals of 10-15 seconds, but dives can extend to well over an hour
When did HMS Endurance first start going to Antarctica?
Rosie and Sasha, Class 3, St Ippolyts School
There have been two Royal Navy ships with the name HMS ENDURANCE. Both were named after Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance.
The first HMS Endurance
The first HMS ENDURANCE, served as the Antarctic ice patrol vessel from 1967 to 1991. She came to public notice when she was involved in the Falklands War.
HMS Endurance during the Fleet Review
The present HMS ENDURANCE has been deploying to Antarctica since 1991. In 2005, she was chosen to carry HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at the Fleet Review as part of the Trafalgar celebrations.
Do you have a Ship’s cat or any dogs?
The Gattons Infant School, Burgess Hill
HMS Endurance in Antarctica
There are no pets on board HMS Endurance. Rules are very strict about the possibility of introducing any species of plant, animal, insect or bug to Antarctica that are not indigenous.
Where are the biggest waves in the world?
Fernley Intermediate School, Nevada, USA
Maui, Hawaii
The biggest ocean waves break on Maui, Hawaii, where some exceed 18m (60ft) in height. The Pacific Ocean delivers the biggest breakers because it has the longest fetch – the distance over which wind can blow. The greater the fetch, the greater the wave. Wave energy can travel immense distances; one study tracked swell all the way up the Pacific from Antarctica to the Aleutian Islands, a distance of more than 10,000km (6,210 miles).
How is the weather recorded at the South Pole?
Charlie and `JJ’ Riches, Toronto, Canada
Automatic weather station in Antarctica
Unmanned weather stations are especially useful in remote areas of the world. This is one of several automatic weather stations that record surface conditions on Antarctica. Some are positioned on icebergs in the ocean. Automatic weather stations measure temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed and direction. At regular intervals every day, they transmit readings via satellite to monitoring centres all over the world.
How do you keep clean on a polar expedition? How do you wash?
Russell Collins, Manchester
If you are not too keen on a daily bath, an expedition in Antarctica is the place to be! Here it’s far too cold to want to keep washing and people on polar expeditions often don’t wash at all because nothing really smells here because it is too cold and collecting water to wash is a major effort in itself.
Robert Falcon Scott in Antarctica
Baby wipes and wetwipes are used, but they tend to freeze up and so have to be kept in your sleeping bag. People hauling sledges have to force themselves to wash every so often, or at least to roll in the snow like a horse, to avoid painful sores from the harnesses they wear.
Q. How big is the biggest iceberg you have seen?
Alex Hill and Alex R, Class 3, St Ippolyts School
The biggest iceberg we have seen this trip was the size of half a football pitch and as high as 5 double decker buses! Here is a picture of two of our Ship’s Company sitting on it.
Iceberg
Q. What is the difference between the thickness of the ice in winter and summer?
Jordan and Georgia, Class 3, St Ippolyts School
There are many different types of ice. Ice gets thicker the older it is, starting at about 5cm thick when the surface of the sea freezes, and can get to 50 metres in height, which is how high the ice shelves of Antarctica are. Endurance can break through ice up to 1 metre thick, travelling at 5 miles per hour.
HMS Endurance in the ice
Q. What is the coldest place in Antarctica like?
Elizabeth Cody, Cape Town, South Africa
The site of the lowest temperature recorded on earth: -86.6ºC is Vostok Station, the Russian research station located near the South Geomagnetic Pole, at the centre of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.Vostok was built in 1957 and named for one of Bellingshausen’s two ships.
Newcomers gasp for breath at Vostok, because although the station sits at an elevation of 3448m, the low pressure of the atmosphere makes it feel like 5000m. Because of its elevation, Vostok is colder than the South Pole. Vostok’s record high temperature, set in 2002, is -12.3ºC!
Vostok Research Station
Q. Why is Antarctica so cold?
Ryan Smith aged 8
Several factors combine to making Antarctica absolutely f-f-f-freezing and one of the coldest and least hospitable places on the Earth:
- With 98% of its area covered with snow and ice, the Antarctic continent reflects most of the sun's light rather than absorbing it. This is called the albedo effect and put simply; it means that dark colours soak up heat while white reflects heat away. This is the same reason why wearing a white T-shirt on a hot day keeps you cooler than wearing a black one.
- During the winter, the size of Antarctica doubles as the surrounding sea water freezes, effectively blocking heat transfer from the warmer surrounding ocean.
- Antarctica has a higher average elevation than any other continent on Earth which results in even colder temperatures.
- Antarctica has the strongest winds
in the world. They are called katabatic winds (meaning
`down-flowing’) and they can be as fast as 320 km/h. These
winds make Antarctica feel colder than it actually is as the
stronger the wind, the colder it feels.
Antarctic scenery
Q. How many icebergs are there in the Southern Ocean? And how are they coded?
Jeff Redman
The Antarctic ice sheet is the `iceberg factory’ of the Southern Ocean. It is estimated by scientists that the total volume of ice calved from the ice sheet each year is about 2300 cu km and that there are about 300,000 icebergs in the Southern Ocean at any one time. Icebergs can range in size from a few metres (called `growlers’) to particularly large icebergs of up to 50km long.
Large icebergs – those at least 18.5km long – are given code names that sound like those used for aircraft: C-14, B-12A, and so on. The codes come from the quadrant of Antarctica where the icebergs were originally sighted – often by satellite. `A’ the area from 0º - 90°W (Bellingshausen/Weddell Seas), `B’ designates the area from 90ºW - 180º (Amundsen/eastern Ross Seas), `C’ the area from 180º - 90ºE (western Ross Sea/Wilkes Land), and `D’ the area from 90º - 0º (Amery Ice Shelf/eastern Weddell Sea).
C -14, for example, is the 14th iceberg to be tracked in quadrant C since big icebergs were first tracked in 1976. Large icebergs are tracked even after they split, and continue to be watched until the pieces are too small to be seen by satellite. Such pieces get a suffix letter after their original name, so B -12A is the first fragment to calve from iceberg B-12.
Satellite photograph of icebergs in Antarctica
Q. Which seal is the smallest in Antarctica?
Finley P and Kathryn, Class 3, St Ippolyts School
Seals have a slick, streamlined, torpedo-shaped body which makes them amongst the world’s best divers. Millions of years of adapting to the sea modified their 4 limbs into flippers that give them their scientific name, pinnipedia, or fin footed animals.
The various seal species differ in size and weight. In Antarctica, the Ross seal is the smallest in weight and length. Ross Seals are very rarely seen, as they live deep within the consolidated pack-ice. An average male is only 199cm (6ft 6in); female is 213cm (7ft) with a weight of 173kg (380lb); female 186kg (410lb).
Ross seal
Q. How big is the biggest iceberg ever seen?
Finley, Ben, Hector and Ben, Class 3, St Ippolyts School
Icebergs are giant chunks of ice that break off the ends of glaciers and ice shelves before drifting out to sea. Only about a tenth of an iceberg shows above water. The rest is hidden under the sea. This makes them very dangerous to passing ships.
What is thought to be the largest iceberg ever seen broke from Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000. It was 295 km (183) long and 37 km (23 miles) wide, with a surface area of 11,000 sq km (4,250 sq miles). This is a similar size to countries such as The Gambia and Qatar or The Bahamas.
Scientists have been keeping a close watch on the iceberg because, being so big, it will have a long lifetime, maybe as long as 20 years.
HMS Endurance leaving Paradise Harbour in Antarctica
Q. Why do Emperor penguins carry their eggs on their feet?
Ryan and Fiona, Class 3, St Ippolyts School
Emperor penguins are unusual because it is the male that protects the one large egg his mate has laid. Emperor penguins breed on sea-ice, in the coldest conditions tolerated by any bird. The cycle begins in the early austral winter, as soon as the sea-ice is strong enough to bear their weight. Arriving in March or April, they gather on fast-ice at the edge of the continental coast and some off-islands. Courtship involves much display and pair bonding. They establish no fixed territory, owning only the ice around them wherever they stand.
The single egg is laid in May/early June, at the start of the coldest weather, when the male takes responsibility for the 62-66 days of incubation in the dark Antarctic winter. The male keeps the egg warm under a special flap between his feet and protected from the freezing weather by huddling with the other male penguins. Chicks become independent during November to January.
Emperor penguin chick
Q. How much food does a whale need?
Sarah Hall, Stourbridge, West Midlands
Krill are little pink shrimp-like creatures and whales, penguins, seals and many seabirds in Antarctica depend on them for their basic food. Krill swim in massive swarms and these can be so big they can be spotted by ships’ radar.
The
largest whale to visit the Southern Ocean for the summer is the blue whale which reaches a maximum length of about 30 metres and a weight of 150 – 200 tonnes. During the 24 hours of daylight in January, blue whales never seem to stop eating. Each day they catch 3 – 4 percent of their own body weight in krill. For a 150 tonne blue whale, that means up to 4.5 tonnes of krill EVERY DAY for 6 months. The daily intake of a blue whale would feed a human for about 4 years!
Blue Whale
Q. Are penguins wet all the time or do they dry off?
Year 2,
Hambledon Infant School,
Hambledon, Hants
The answer to that is that they stay dry all the time. Penguin feathers keep them waterproof and warm by being kept well oiled. Penguins use oil from a special gland at the base of their tail.
To help illustrate the answer Lt Scott `Stimpy’ Simpson has made a film of a penguin cleaning itself after a swim:
Click here to watch
Q. How many types of penguins are there in Antarctica?
Yasmin Lane
There are 7 members of the penguin family in Antarctica.
The king penguin is the world’s second-largest penguin. Kings breed on seven sub-Antarctic island groups, with a breeding population estimated at between one and 1.5 million pairs.
The emperor penguin is the world’s largest penguin and it stands more than 1m tall and can weigh 40kg. The emperor is the only Antarctic bird that breeds in winter. A single egg is incubated on the feet of the males, which huddle in the extreme winter to reduce heat loss. A male emperor will go as long as two months without eating while he is looking after his chick.
Gentoo penguins can be found in large populations at South Georgia (100,000 pairs), the Falkland Islands (70,000 pairs) and Kerguelen islands (30,000 pairs) and on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Adélie penguins were named after French explorer Dumont d’Urveille’s wife. Along with the emperor, the Adélie is the only other truly Antarctic penguin. It breeds further south than any penguin.
Chinstrap penguins are the second most abundant Antarctic and sub-Antarctic penguin after the macaroni, with an estimated 4 million pairs. Chinstraps are mini-mountaineers, choosing rocky and ice-free slopes up to about 100m to inhabit.
Rockhopper penguins are found as far north as Tristan da Cunha and true to their name, choose to breed amongst rocks on rocky ground, scree slopes, rocky shores and lava flows close to the sea. They are the smallest of the polar penguins, weighing only 2.5kg.
Macaroni penguins are the most abundant of the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic penguins, with a minimum breeding population of 11.8 million pairs. The main concentrations are on South Georgia, Crozet and Kerguelen islands.
Q. Is Antarctica the biggest continent in the world?
Abbie, Basingstoke, Hampshire
The biggest continent in the world is Asia which is an enormous 44,579,000 sq km. Antarctica is about 13,900,000 sq km by comparison.
Antarctica has the record for being the continent with the most extreme conditions: the coldest, the windiest, the driest – not forgetting some of the most dangerous conditions ever experienced by humans.
Satellite composite picture of Antarctica
Q. Why is the sky blue?
Annabel Flemming Age 14, Chester, Cheshire
To understand why the sky is blue, first we have to understand why something appears a certain colour. Visible light is made up of all colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and everything in between. An object appears “blue” if it reflects (or to be very accurate, “scatters”) more blue light than the other colours of light. For solid objects, those other colours are “absorbed”, rather than scattered.
For “clear” air, those other colours pass right through, without being absorbed. The sky is blue because the molecules of air scatter some of the blue light, while allowing the other colours of light to pass through. Why blue? Because the size of the molecules of air are close to the wavelength of blue light…about 0.0004 mm in diameter.
The next time you fly in a plane and you’re at 34,000 ft, you are actually above 75% of the atmosphere. If you look out of the window, and look up, you will notice that the sky is a much darker blue than you are used to seeing. This is because you are seeing some sky, but also some outer space!
Cumulus clouds over Kansas
Q. How do killer whales pass their time?
Jason Williams Age 9, London
The activities of killer whales can be grouped into four major categories: foraging, resting, socialising and travelling.
Foraging is the most common activity, which makes up about 60% of their daily activity. When resting, pod members slow down, group together tightly, become mainly silent and dive in synchronization; resting episodes usually last 2 – 3 hours. Socialising amongst killer whales consists of mating and play with the other pod members.
Male Orca
Q. How do you know if you are at one of the Poles?
Brad McDonough, San Francisco, California
The South Pole has a marker (although every year it has to be repositioned to compensate for the shifting ice sheets beneath). However, there is no marker at the North Pole – it wouldn’t stay put for long on the drifting sea ice of the Arctic Ocean! At the North Pole, each expedition tends to stick their own marker, like a flag, in the ground for the obligatory photograph once they have calculated that they have indeed reached the Pole.
Early explorers to both Poles had to look at the sun and stars and find their position with a sextant, an instrument used for measuring angles between distances. But clouds, blizzards and fog meant that the sun was not always visible. Compasses are not very useful on polar expeditions because they are not reliable so near a magnetic Pole and instruments in general tend to freeze up. Nowadays satellite links can help with the calculations that used to be very difficult.
Typical North Pole scenary and the ceremonal South Pole
Q. What is the difference between a hurricane, a tornado, a cyclone and a whirlwind?
Eric Clinton, New York, USA
It’s a matter of intensity and size. The smallest are whirlwinds (`twisters’), with air circulating around a core of low pressure. They cover a small area but rise more than 1,000ft. Tornadoes are larger and more powerful, often 300ft wide with winds up to 250 mph. They’re often associated with thunderstorms. Cyclones are larger still, causing bad weather across hundreds of miles. The most destructive are at the end of the hot season in the Pacific, particularly the Bay of Bengal and the China Sea, where they are known as typhoons, and across the West Indies, where they are known as hurricanes.
Cyclone Catarina on March 26, 2004, the first South Atlantic hurricane ever recorded
Q. When was HMS Endurance built and what is the length and width of the ship?
Charlotte and Amber age 7 and Alessandra age 8
HMS Endurance was originally built in Norway and launched in 1990 as `MV Polar Circle’.
In 1991 she was chartered by the Royal Navy and commissioned into naval service on the 21st November 1991 as HMS Polar Circle. She was purchased outright in 1992 and renamed HMS Endurance in October of that year.
HMS Endurance is 91 metres long and 20 metres wide.
HMS Endurance
Q. How thick is the ice in Antarctica?
Alex Waters, Gosport, Hampshire
90% of the world’s ice (29 million cubic kilometres) is locked up in the Antarctic icecap. The average thickness of the icecap is 2.16 kilometres; the maximum known thickness is 4776 m at Terre Adelie.
Without the ice, Antarctica may be the lowest lying continent; the greatest known depression of bedrock is the Byrd Subglacial Basin, at 2538 m below sea level due to the weight of the ice pushing the bedrock back into the Earth.
Satellite composite picture of Antarctica
Q. Why do stars twinkle?
Angus Roberts age 5, Aberdeen, Scotland
Stars only twinkle when we look at them from Earth. Out in space their light shines steadily. We see them twinkling because of the air around the Earth – as light from a star travels towards us, it is bent and wobbled by bubbles of hot and cold air.
The Pleiades, an open cluster of stars in the constellation of Taurus
Q. Why do penguins not fly but “fly” underwater?
Eleanor Lewis, St Ippolyts Primary School
A. On land, penguins tend to inelegantly walk, jump or toboggan over ice and snow. Penguins can’t fly because their wings are too small for their bodies and their wrist and elbow joints are fused, which stops their wings from folding.
Buoyant, torpedo-shaped bodies and an efficient flipper design which acts as a powerful propulsion unit, penguins use their bill, tail and feet to rapidly change direction in order to chase fish or avoid predators. When travelling any distance, penguins will `porpoise’, leap out of the water, to reduce drag and conserve energy. While they forage at sea, penguins are under constant threat from their predators including leopard seals, orcas (killer whales), and occasionally fur seals. Consequently, not only are penguins much more skilful at swimming than walking, they even consume one-third less energy at sea than on land.
Q. Are killer whales really found in Antarctica and what do they eat?
Daniel Wilson, Mychett, Surrey
A. Killer whales are widely spread throughout the Southern Ocean. They are the only whales that take warm-blooded mammals and, in the Antarctic, their main prey are other whales and seals. Killers hunt together in groups called pods. Members of a pod co-ordinate their movements through an endless stream of calls and clicks and can easily maintain a speed of 25 knots when hunting.
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