Amazing Antarctic Animals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Antarctic krill are at the bottom of the food chain and thus do not ingest any food during their life cycle.

Krill form an incredibly important part of the Antarctic ecosystem, with most of the larger Antarctic animals depending on krill either directly or indirectly. Adult krill swim in large groups, and the estimated 500 million tonnes of Antarctic krill in the Southern Ocean is one of the largest biomasses of any multi-cellular species on earth.

Although krill can go without food for as long as 200 days, they eat phytoplankton and zooplankton when available.

Answer: They are not sensitive to climate change

The availability of water is the single most important factor determining the abundance and distribution of terrestrial invertebrates in the Antarctic. Consequently, they are particularly susceptible to climate change because water availability alters dramatically with temperature change.

The Antarctic is home to an incredible range of terrestrial invertebrates and, as is the case in many other environments, they are an important part of the ecosystem.

Answer: Salps take an incredibly long time to reach maturity - some specimens captured in the 19th century are still considered adolescent.

Salps are gelatinous invertebrates that look a lot like jellyfish, but structurally they are more closely related to true vertebrates. One of the two Antarctic species of salp is observed in high numbers in years when krill are low and vice versa. Scientists explain this with reference to the abundance of ice in the water. Salpa thompsoni enjoys ice-free conditions while krill prefer icy waters. Fluctuating levels of ice in Antarctic waters is part of a normal cycle, but there could be a permanent reduction in the presence of krill if Antarctic waters warm on a long-term basis.

In warmer waters, salp can complete an entire life cycle in just 48 hours, though this is slowed somewhat in cooler climates.

Answer: There would be little impact if squid vanished from the Antarctic.

Squid is second only to krill as the most important food source in Antarctic waters. There are at least four mammals, seventeen birds, and thirteen fish that prey upon the warty squid in the Antarctic. There are also giant squid in the region and in 2007 one was caught in the Ross Sea which was ten metres long and weighed an estimated 450 kilograms.

This was 150 kilograms more than the next largest squid previously captured.

Answer: The largest fish in Antarctic waters is the whale shark.

The whale shark prefers warmer waters; in fact the only shark widely studied and known to frequently exist in the Antarctic is the salmon shark. The Patagonian toothfish is one of the most heavily fished species in Antarctic waters. This has an impact on the food web, but one of the most drastic consequences of this industry is the enormous number of other animals caught in the long-lines used by commercial fishers.

The use of long-lines in Antarctic waters is no longer legal.

Answer: Typically, these birds are brightly coloured.

The birds that migrate to breed during the Antarctic spring are overwhelmingly white, grey, brown and black; they include albatross, gulls, petrels and skuas. Some of them fly a very long distance to reach their breeding grounds, and often return to the same breeding site each year.

Many of them spend many months rearing their young and it is common for both male and female to be actively involved in this.

Answer: The emperor is the smallest species of penguin found on the Antarctic continent.

Emperor penguins are the largest of all penguins. The females lay their eggs during the Antarctic winter and then the eggs are incubated by the males. Male and female Adelie penguins are of similar size and for the two months that they are responsible for their chicks, they share their duties almost equally.

Many penguins travel great distances to find food for their young: Adelie penguins are known to travel over 100 kilometres offshore.

Answer: Huskies remain an important mode of transportation in Antarctica.

Huskies were first used in Antarctica during the Southern Cross expedition which began in 1898. In an attempt to protect the animals of the Antarctic, the Antarctic Treaty System was amended in 1964 and one measure introduced was the prohibition of introducing alien species to the area.

At that time, motorised vehicles were not sophisticated enough to provide reliable transport to remote areas, and so sledge dogs remained in the Antarctic because they allowed scientists to conduct studies of otherwise inaccessible locations.

By the 1990s scientists could no longer argue that the dogs were essential to their work, and consequently it was determined that the dogs should be removed. Some Antarctic scientists felt that there was little chance of the dogs passing diseases on to seals (which was a major reason offered in favour of removing the dogs), and also argued that the huskies had a positive psychological impact on people living on the bases, but ultimately the case for keeping the dogs was lost.

The last huskies left Antarctica in 1994.

Answer: Seals can only spend small amounts of time in the waters of Antarctica because the sea is so cold.

In actual fact, seals spend a good deal of time underwater, and in many cases this is the warmer placer for them to be. While the Antarctic air temperature will remain well below zero much of the time, the water temperature remains between 1 and 1.8 degrees Celsius. True seals are earless, and there are five such species found in the Antarctic: Ross, Weddell, crabeater, leopard, and elephant seals. Antarctica is also home to two kinds of seals with small ear flaps: fur seals and sea lions.

Answer: Most of them live in the Antarctic all year round

Whale numbers in the Antarctic have been drastically reduced as a consequence of whaling. Since the whales travel long distances into warmer waters in order to breed during the winter, the animals are exposed to hunters in a number of locations. Today, only the minke whale exists in Antarctica in numbers close to those of the nineteenth century. Minke whales travel to warmer waters to spawn, but some of them spend the entire winter in the Antarctic. Most Antarctic whales stay well north of the continent, but blue whales and minke whales have been seen close to the Antarctic coastline in the Ross Sea.