Animals of Antarctica

Tap an animal to meet it: where it lives, what it eats, how it grows, and a narrated adventure with Olly.

7 to explore

Watch Animal Adélie penguin The Adélie penguin is a medium-sized penguin, about 70 centimeters tall, with a black back, a white front and a bright white ring around each eye. It breeds in summer on rocky, ice-free ground all around Antarctica, building nests of pebbles, and spends the winter far out at sea among the pack ice.
Watch Animal Arctic tern The Arctic tern is a small, graceful seabird with a black cap, a red bill and red legs. Every year it flies from its nesting grounds in the Arctic to the edge of the ice around Antarctica and back again. Scientists who tracked terns from Greenland and Iceland found that they flew an average of 70,900 kilometers in one year.
Watch Animal Chinstrap penguin The chinstrap penguin is named for the thin black band that runs under its chin from ear to ear, like a helmet strap. It breeds in huge colonies on the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby islands, raises two chicks each summer and dives for krill close to shore.
Watch Animal Emperor penguin The emperor penguin is the largest penguin in the world. It lives around Antarctica, and it is the only animal that breeds during the dark, freezing Antarctic winter. Fathers keep the egg warm on their feet for about two months, huddled together against the storms.
Watch Animal Gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin is the penguin with the red-orange bill, orange feet and a white band across the top of its head. It lives on the Antarctic Peninsula and on islands around Antarctica, builds nests of stones, and usually lays two eggs. National Geographic says no other diving bird swims faster.
Watch Animal Leopard seal The leopard seal is a large, slender seal of the icy seas around Antarctica, named for the dark spots on its gray coat. It is a fast, powerful hunter with a big head and long teeth, and it eats everything from tiny krill to fish, penguins and young seals.
Watch 3D Animal Tardigrade Tardigrades, or water bears, are tiny eight-legged animals about a millimeter long or less. They live in damp moss, soil, fresh water and the sea all over the world, and they can survive drying out completely by curling into a little barrel called a tun.