There is something magical and otherworldly about Antarctica. It’s cold on a scale most of us will never experience. It’s rugged and vast and pretty much unpopulated by humans (except for international researchers and the people who keep their communities humming). The wildlife is mind-blowingly cool. For example, Antarctica has leopard seals—huge pinnipeds that regularly make meals out of other seals. And Emperor penguins (if you haven’t yet seen March of the Penguins, queue it up!). Finally, there’s something deeply gratifying about the fact that every man in Sir Ernest Shackleton’s doomed 1917 Endurance expedition to Antarctica made it through their ordeal alive. Somehow that story (stay tuned for reviews of books about the adventure) makes the continent even more magical.
Since most of us won’t ever make it that far south, here’s a taste of life at the bottom of the Earth:
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