Antarctica: Tales from the End of the World

Antarctica in summer. After months of darkness, the sun has finally reappeared. Ships can once again travel southwards.

They dare to venture into icy territory only during the light season, but winter's rigid, icy carapace is not easy to penetrate. Even for icebreakers, voyages into South Polar Sea are risky. Gigantic icebergs and stormy seas are added dangers.

The coastal areas around the subantarctic islands are mostly ice-free, serving as the habitat for Antarctic's remarkably abundant fauna. These narrow strips of land serve as a fighting arena, marriage market and breeding ground. The Antarctic continent is enclosed by a vast expanse of ice.

Emperor penguins have no problem with the inhospitable conditions. They're the largest penguin species. The southernmost continent is their home, their kingdom.

To us humans, it consists of tales, tales of Antarctica, from the End of the World. The gateway to Antarctica lies in the far south of Argentina, Tierra del Fuego. The sea is the best connection to the rest of the world.

One of the few places that exist here is renowned beyond the country's borders. It's the resort town of Ushuaia, also known as the End of the World. Tapering off into the foothills of the Andes Mountains is the southern end of the American continent.

Around 60,000 residents rely primarily on fishing or tourism for sustenance. The season begins in October when visitors are lured by the Southern Hemisphere summer. Not far from the city, it's breeding time for Magellanic penguins.

Males and females share hatching duties, going off in turns to find food. Only occasionally can they indulge in some time together. Magellanic penguins live on fish, squid and krill, and there's a plentiful supply of these in the cold waters of Tierra del Fuego.

Ushuaia is famous not only due to the many cruise liners that stop here, but particularly in its role as the gateway to Antarctica. It's the starting point for numerous expeditions. The Kapitan Khlebnikov is getting ready for its next voyage into South Polar Sea.

Provisions are loaded, and the last passengers board the vessel. The best time to set out is the onset of the local summer in November. The lighthouse, Faro Les Éclaireurs, lies around eight nautical miles from Ushuaia.

It marks the end of the habitable world for human beings. Animals, on the other hand, are very much at home here, as the waters are teeming with sustenance for them. South American sea lions will often choose small, rocky islets as their retreat.

They rest and sleep here before embarking on their next fishing foray. The males don't have much downtime, as they have to guard and protect their harem. The South American blackish oystercatcher feeds on mussels, which it cracks open with its hard beak.

The voyage of discovery goes from the southern tip of the American continent to the South Georgia Islands. The Kapitan Khlebnikov is an icebreaker with special technical equipment, making it well-suited for the passage to Antarctica. A special radar system sounds out the ice situation.

Its reinforced hull is designed to break through sea ice up to three meters thick. Although the conditions don't yet call for this capability, the voyage is still not an easy one. The erratic and often stormy weather here has taught experienced seafarers to have a healthy respect for the sea at between 40 and 60 degrees latitude.

They've given it nicknames, such as the Roaring 40s, the Furious 50s, and the Shrieking or Screaming 60s. Gulls and other seabirds accompany the ship, defying the challenges of the wild sea. South Georgia lies some 2,000 kilometers east of Tierra del Fuego, part of the subantarctic islands.

Apart from a British governor and two scientists, the island is uninhabited. Mountains, snow and ice dominate the landscape. At 2,934 meters, Mount Paget is the highest peak.

All around the island, more than 160 glaciers flow into the sea, but the coast is ice-free almost all year round. Robust bull kelp, up to ten meters long, grows in abundance here. It's generally a safe environment for fish, mussels and crabs, except when the southern giant petrel is hunting for food.

King penguins are the most imposing residents of South Georgia. They gather in the island's bays in the Southern Hemisphere spring. The males arrive first and look for their breeding place from last year.

When they dive into the water, they do it together in groups. It's a reliable survival strategy to escape predators lurking underwater. King penguins are sociable and like to hunt together.

Their prey is mainly fish and squid. After about 150 daily dives, they seek a resting place on the beach. The narrow, ice-free beaches between the glaciers and the sea provide shelter from the wind and weather, not only for penguins but also for seals and other creatures.

A couple of weeks after the males, the females follow and begin to seek out their partner. During the breeding season, king penguins are strictly monogamous. On land, adult penguins don't have any natural predators in South Georgia, but not all of them will return from their long fishing trips in the sea.

Orcas and other predators take their toll. Some penguins wait in vain for their partner to return. Their distinctive plumage shields them from the cold and wetness.

The feathers atop the underlying warm downy layer must be preened and oiled regularly. King penguins aren't the only residents here. In the summer, the beaches of South Georgia are positively bustling.

An elephant seal colony obstructs the path from the breeding ground to the sea. Only the adult males sport the prominent eponymous trunk. These giants can weigh up to four tons.

Young males don't have much to show in the nose department yet. It takes about eight years for the olfactory organ to reach a size where the wearer can make an impression. They learn how to fight early on.

The young elephant seals don't hold back either. Strength, aggressiveness and tactics are all decisive factors in the fight for females and territory. It's often a matter of life and death.

They have to start young. Practice makes perfect. His huge trunk and fighting ability have earned him respect, and he's got what he wanted.

The bull has gathered 15 females around him, a respectable-sized harem. They are mostly peaceable and take care of their offspring. This young fellow can still only dream of future conquests.

It's good to relax, surrounded by the family. Wailing babies are part of it too. The baby seal needs plenty of milk and has to grow quickly.

There isn't much time for having fun. Elephant seal pups must become independent in just four weeks. Life still seems carefree, but in just a few weeks, it will be time to start out on their long ocean journey.

Till then, the seal pups quadruple their birth weight to about 150 kilograms. It's vital for them to have a thick layer of fat so they can survive in the icy South Polar Sea. Elephant seals only go ashore during the mating season to rear their young and for their annual molt.

The remaining time is dedicated to hunting fish and squid in the sea. They spend months in the ocean until their reproductive instinct drives them to go ashore again. South Georgia is a meeting point for many animals who otherwise spend their lives in the sea.

The craggy interior of the island is dominated by glaciers, ice and snow, not a good habitat for flora and fauna. What sparse vegetation there is can mostly be found along the narrow coastal strip. However, mosses thrive in the subantarctic's damp, cold climate, although temperatures in summer rarely climb above ten degrees centigrade.

Countless small streams are fed by rain and glaciers. There's no shortage of water in South Georgia. King penguins seem to like it here.

After all, there are about 40,000 of them. They have an unusually delayed breeding cycle of around 14 months. The result is that a colony will contain year-old chicks, as well as adults who are still searching for a partner.

In winter, the young penguins stay alone on land and wait for their parents to return after months with food. It's summer, the time for them to be raised and fed. After about 14 months, they exchange their fluffy down for waterproof plumage.

Only then are they ready to go fishing in the sea on their own. While one family is still raising its young, an adult singleton is on the lookout for a new partner. Once they find each other, the courtship begins.

It's a ritual that always leads to the same outcome: mating. Not a simple business, but definitely well worth it. The Antarctic fur seal nearby poses no danger.

He just has to keep an eye on his females. Fur seals are unperturbed by the bad weather. They spend most of their time in water.

On land, it's all about reproduction. There's often bitter fighting over females and territory. Penguins and fur seals rarely bother each other.

Encounters are marked mainly by curiosity or mistrust. After careful inspection and risk assessment, they each go on their way. King penguins often breed near gentoo penguins.

Their trumpeting call is distinctive and led to their being known as donkey penguins in German. They also use the short Austral summer to rear their young. Their nests are built of stones and grassy padding.

They also don't mind stealing from their neighbors. The eggs are incubated for around 30 days until the chicks hatch. After that, the young typically stay in the nest for another 30 days, kept warm and protected by their parents.

The parent birds will have to find over 100 kilograms of krill before their chick is fully grown. They take turns to forage. One parent is always left behind to protect their young.

Gentoo penguins only breed in regions without snow or ice. In South Georgia, every year, they revisit their old breeding sites. Good neighborliness is important, as there's limited ice-free space available on the island.

Everyone claims their own place. The fur seal pups are born late November, at the start of the Austral summer. The baby seals often stay alone for days while their mothers are out hunting food.

Mothers come ashore only briefly to nurse their pups. Fur seal pups are used to being left on their own. They huddle together for comfort.

Now and then, a quarrel breaks out between adult seals, but the worst of the fights are over, with territories already staked out. All in all, the cohabitation of all these different species works well. Fur seals, elephant seals, or penguins, in South Georgia, there's room for all.

The reason why so many animals are drawn to South Georgia is its bountiful hunting grounds. The sea here has a wealth of nutrition resources, making the archipelago one of the most popular ports of call in the South Polar Sea. South Georgia lies at the conjunction of the Atlantic Ocean and Antarctica.

Heading south, the route passes by the Sandwich Islands to the Antarctic Peninsula, traveling ever farther into the polar sea. The weather here is very changeable. Cold winds from the south meet warm air masses from the north.

This results in tremendous low-pressure areas. Storms and bad weather are a foregone conclusion. It's challenging for any expedition.

The first icebergs appear, gigantic behemoths that have broken off from the Antarctic ice sheet, and are drifting north. The sea gnaws away at them incessantly, but the water is only a few degrees warm, so it takes years for them to melt. Icebergs often travel thousands of kilometers, driven by tides and stormy winds.

Only one-seventh of their mass sticks out above the surface of the water. The main section underwater is not only much deeper, it's also much wider, very dangerous for shipping. Near the Southern Antarctic Circle, the sun hardly sets at all.

It's good for expeditions to the Antarctic. Volcanic islands jut out of the sea, evidence of the massive geological activity under the seabed, where the oceanic plate is sliding under the Antarctic continental plate. The greater part of the Southern Continent is constantly covered by a huge ice sheet.

In summer, only 2% of the continent is free of ice. Most of this ice-free area is in the Antarctic Peninsula. The nutrient-rich open water attracts birds and other marine life to the area.

It's just one of many stops for the Kapitan Khlebnikov. The expeditionary ship moors not far from the coastline. Frequent low-pressure systems make the local climate milder than on the rest of the continent.

Lone gentoo penguins find ice-free spots to go about their business. They're usually not that sociable, preferring close contact only with their partner. If both of them like the look of a place, that will be their nesting site.

They only form colonies during the breeding season. This protects the chicks better against attacks from predatory seabirds. The lack of vegetation restricts the choice of building materials for their nests.

There are only small stones. These two are just starting out, but they have managed to agree on a breeding spot. Mating is just taking a little longer, but true love will always find a way.

Others are already incubating their eggs, while their partners waddle off to the sea to stock up on food reserves. On their way to the water, they meet some excitable Adélie penguins. Adélie penguins are the most common penguin species in Antarctica and can be found throughout the continent.

They're remarkably agile walkers on land. A speed of about 2. 5 kilometers per hour is great pace for their small webbed feet.

They often walk long distances to reach their hunting grounds in the open sea. Distances of about 50 kilometers are not uncommon. To make their dangerous dive into the water, they usually gather at places where the sea is rough.

Diving into the murky water together makes it more difficult for leopard seals that might be lurking, waiting to grab one of them. Like all penguins, they appear to be quite clumsy on land. Their streamlined bodies are best suited to a life in the water.

They feed mostly on krill, tiny crustaceans that are abundant in the polar sea. This is why they breed in the millions here, on the icy Southern Continent. The Antarctic Peninsula is still the warmest place.

In summer, temperatures can reach above freezing, melting the ice and creating bizarre formations. Sometimes a gigantic table iceberg gets stranded near the coast. It can be stuck for years until it melts enough to be able to continue its odyssey.

Only icebreakers dare advance through the pack ice. So for most ships, the Antarctic Peninsula is their last port of call. The extreme icy conditions make it impossible to continue their journey into the south polar region or through the Weddell Sea.

Even in the summer months, the ice prevents any headway being made in many places. Occasionally, the Kapitan Khlebnikov will plow through less obstructed areas. With the ice freezing and melting all the time, conditions change constantly.

Seawater freezes at minus 1. 8 degrees centigrade. It forms a pulpy mass of ice crystals that join together to create ice floes.

In rough seas, these floes collide with each other and form thick plates. This is called pancake ice. In winter, these floes become deeper and wider, finally forming a 1,000-kilometer-wide ice shield around the whole continent.

It is only in spring, when the ice begins to crack, that ice-breakers can penetrate once again as far as this. Until then, around 20 million square kilometers of solid ice separates the continent from the rest of the world. The Kapitan Khlebnikov can deal with pack ice several meters thick, but traveling through extensive sheets of ice is risky.

A special radar system helps to assess the ice conditions. The motto for all shipping in the polar sea is: the shortest way through the ice is around the ice. It's because a detour is still safer than sailing straight through it.

However, this isn't always possible in the Weddell Sea. When the radar can no longer assess the ice floes and open water in between, they have to resort to a helicopter. On reconnaissance flights, they map out the best path through the icy labyrinth.

Even for a robust icebreaker like the Kapitan Khlebnikov, navigating in the Antarctic Ocean is not an easy business. Especially shaped bow and massively reinforced steel cladding protect the hull from the sharp edges of the ice. Powerful engines ensure that the ship has enough propulsion and thrust.

At last, the Kapitan Khlebnikov reaches open water again and can make headway. The days are getting longer, which is helpful when plotting a course through pack ice. The sun is low in the sky, but this far south, it rarely sets completely.

The Weddell Sea is famously known as the iceberg factory. Gigantic chunks keep breaking off of the ice shelf and drifting north. Along the Antarctic coastline, there are no natural harbors to weigh anchor.

The only option is to park in the ice. The ship plows through the ice at maximum speed until it is brought to a halt in the midst of a vast, blindingly white ice desert extending 2,000 kilometers to the south. There's no environment on Earth more hostile than this.

It would seem as if nothing could survive here. The Kapitan Khlebnikov can take a rest. Frozen fast in the ice, it merely waits until the researchers and expedition members are ready for the return voyage.

Despite the adverse conditions, this place is home to the emperor penguin. Its hunting grounds are accessed through a hole in the ice. These penguins have caught their fill and are now heading back to their colony.

This could be several kilometers from the water, a long trek for short penguin legs, but they have more than one method of locomotion at their disposal. Their smooth, oiled feathers make it easy for them to slide across the icy surface beneath them. Emperor penguin colonies are often far away from the sea, safe from the melting ice in spring.

The icebergs they pass are immobile, frozen prisoners of the white Antarctic wasteland. They stay here until summer breaks up the sheet ice, freeing them from their captivity. Wind and weather create bizarre formations, icy sculptures that almost look like they were made by human hands.

It's hard to believe that this barren landscape could harbor any life at all, but it's one of the biggest nurseries in the world. This is where emperor penguins raise their young. It's a risky breeding strategy, but one that generally pays off.

In such a desolate area, there are few enemies, and the young can grow up in relative safety. Like any other chicks, they are permanently hungry, so their parents must bring back loads of food. The Antarctic summer is the best time for this.

The days are very long, and the more the pack ice melts, the shorter their way to open water becomes. They tirelessly tramp back and forth between their colony and the sea. The cold sea is teeming with fish, squid and krill, so the adult penguins can always bring plenty of food back to their young.

There are more than 40 colonies in the Antarctic, and year after year, emperor penguins return to the same ones. In the deepest winter, they breed by the thousands and use the short summers to raise their offspring. Now there's food in abundance, and the chicks grow fast.

There's plenty of pre-digested fish daily. The fluffy down plumage gives the chicks excellent protection against the cold. The little ones are insatiable, but begging doesn't always work.

When the supplies in the parent's stomach have been eaten, they have to set off again to get more food. The chicks often sleep while their parents are away for long periods, waiting for their return. Emperor penguins are the only animals that reside primarily in the Antarctic.

Their bodies are perfectly adapted to the adverse conditions of the icy continent. Their plumage protects them from the cold. A base layer of warm down is covered by a closely growing layer of short feathers.

The top feathers are constantly oiled by a secretion from the preen gland, making the penguin's body completely waterproof. They also have a thick layer of fat, which helps them to withstand temperatures of up to minus 60 degrees centigrade. Loud calls help them to identify partners and offspring.

Emperor penguins are the largest of the penguin species. They can reach up to 1. 3 meters in height and weigh around 38 kilograms.

In winter, they can lose up to 40% of their body weight. Now, during the summer months, they stock up again. When both parents are away foraging, the young penguins gather in nurseries.

They're constantly supervised and guarded by adult birds. Occasionally, danger can threaten in the form of seagulls and giant petrels. They're safer when they're in groups.

A lost chick might not be able to find its parents again. If that happens, then the chick will starve. In the safety of the group and looked after by adults, the chicks often go on outings.

Here and there, the walking party is joined by others keen on a stroll. In a few weeks, they'll grow their proper waterproof penguin plumage. When that happens, they'll be able to go down to the water and begin their lives as young adults.

The chicks receive constant care from both parents. It's almost impossible for a single parent to catch enough food to raise a young chick on its own. When the temperature reaches minus 20 degrees, it gets too warm for the penguins.

This results in colonies spreading out. The families redistribute themselves and form scattered groups. The fishing forays that would take months in the winter, now take just a day or so.

Toward evening, most penguins return to their colony. They will spend the short Antarctic summer nights there, in the safety of their own family. For emperor penguins, this is their home and retreat.

As humans, we wonder about the marvels of this world. Only a few of us ever have access to it and return to tell its tales, tales of life and death, friendship and family amid the harshest conditions, tales of Antarctica, from the End of the World.