Antarctic

10 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 3D Animal Antarctic krill Antarctic krill are small, shrimp-like crustaceans about 6 centimeters long that live in the icy Southern Ocean around Antarctica. They gather in enormous swarms, and almost all the bigger animals of the Antarctic, from penguins to blue whales, depend on them for food.
• 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 Colossal squid The colossal squid lives deep in the icy Southern Ocean around Antarctica. It is thought to be the heaviest animal without a backbone: one caught in 2007 weighed about 470 kilograms. Its arms and tentacles carry sharp, turning hooks, and in 2025 scientists filmed a living one in the wild for the first time.
• 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 3D Animal King penguin The king penguin is the second-largest penguin in the world. It lives in huge, noisy colonies on windy islands in the Southern Ocean and dives deep to catch lantern fish. Its babies grow a thick coat of brown fluff and take more than a year to raise.
• 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 Orca The orca, also called the killer whale, is the largest member of the dolphin family and the ocean's top predator. Orcas live in every ocean, in close family groups called pods, made up of orcas related through their mothers. Each group has its own favorite foods, hunting tricks and even its own calls, which young orcas learn from their families.