Animals

Yes, sea stars have a crazy way of eating. They crawl up over what they are going to eat (usually a mussel or something like that), use their tube feet to "suction open" the mussel, invert their stomach and lower it into the mussel, dissolve what they want to eat, bring their stomach back up and in... then crawl off in search of their next "victim"! Seeing it visually is tricky - if the mussel was see through, then yes, you could see it, but usually the thing that it's eating is blocking the view. You definitely can see the sea star "hunched up" over something. That's often a sign that it is eating whatever it is on. If you had a small enough camera to get up and under the sea star - you could see it! It really is only "out of view" because of the view being blocked by the animals involved. It's not a microscopic process.

I haven't seen the movie (yet - can't wait to!), so I am not certain what type of "song" you mean, but I do know that several species of penguins make substantial vocalizations with each other. I also know there is some "posturing" that is done. Some do an elaborate neck stretching, twisting, rubbing ritual. I believe some even try to attract a mate by making a significant "nest" out of rocks; they gather rocks and place them in the nesting area. I am not a penguin expert, so I'm not entirely sure of all the various rituals out there, but I believe there are several!

I have not been to any areas where leopard seals are likely to be. I would be a bit nervous if I was in an area where they were, but I would love to do it. I don't want to give them a totally bad reputation - they are the most likely thing to have a "tricky" encounter with! The leopard seals live out near the ice edge. I doubt I will see any leopard seals on this trip - but I would like to! I think it would be exciting to see one!

I saw several that were very colorful! There were red ones, clear ones with rainbow colors shimmering inside them, even some that had a lot of orange on them. All the ones I've seen so far have been relatively small - the biggest was probably only about 8 inches in diameter. They sure are pretty though! I only see jelly fish in the ocean - there are no macro organisms in the lakes.

Narwhals are only in the Arctic, so I am not likely to see one here! I would love to see one someday though, so I'll have to go to the Arctic!

Actually there are thousands of penguins here! I just happen to be in an area where they aren't so common. They tend to be in colonies near the ice edge for the continent and I am not too close to the ice edge. The ones I am likely to see here have wandered off from the colony. Most will go back to the colony without a problem, but some do get lost up here - it's sad when that happens!

I was wondering how big was the seal and how close did you get to it when it swam with you? Do you ever give the animals that hang out near the dive hole, like the seal, names? Also do seals blow out bubbles when they swim, like people do?

The first seal was somewhere between 12-15 feet long, and probably somewhere around 400 pounds. She was HUGE!! She swam right up to us - even looked me in the eye! I could have touched her if I reached out, but we aren't supposed to do that. The second seal, the one up our hole, was a little bit smaller - probably about 10-12 feet long and about 300-350 pounds. Big enough to block the hole!

Seals do blow out bubbles. They even hunt by blowing bubbles. There are fish that hide in little holes in the ice. The seals go up and blow into the holes and the fish are forced out, then the seals eat them! Good strategy huh?

 

I have NOT seen a group of penguins diving together. I would LOVE to see that - wouldn't that be fun?! Actually, I would be most likely to see that happening either out at the ice edge or near one of the penguin colonies. I am no where near either of those things at the moment, so I doubt to see anything like that unless I get the opportunity to go to the ice edge. That is most likely not going to be a possibility - oh well... perhaps another time.

What happened to the penguin you encountered? You probably didn't see it again, but I'm wondering - would it survive without other penguins? Don't they huddle together for warmth?

As far as anyone knows, he/she waddled his/her way back to the colony! It is not unusual for penguins to wonder a bit by themselves. It is the emperor penguins that are notorious for huddling in the cold. I'm not sure if adelies huddle in the same manner. At any rate, it is assumed that the penguin is happy and well! It probably wasn't separated from the colony for long.

Penguins do live in large groups. This little guy was just wandering around in McMurdo sound. The penguin researchers told us this is quite normal. It's as if they just go off for a walk for a while - then return to the group later. Perhaps they need a little "solo" time! It's cute though, isn't it?