Penguin Challenge
The author of the blog post below, Andrew Corso, is a PhD candidate at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. He has created weekly “mysteries” during his research cruise off the coast of Antarctica. For the challenge on this page, Andrew needs help identifying
the penguins he encountered around Palmer Station. Read the blog post and use the Dichotomous key given in the post to help you identify the penguins. Good luck!
For more "mystery creature" blog posts from Andrew, check out the website listed at the bottom of the page.
Photo By Andrew Corso
Greetings from Antarctica! Sadly, we are heading back to Chile later this week. Our last stop is at one of the three Antarctic bases operated by the United States called Palmer Station, on the Western Antarctic Peninsula. It is a very cool place filled with wonderful people. The station held a big dinner for us when we arrived followed by ice cream sundaes. They even have a hot tub!
I have had an amazing time showing you all the unique animals we encounter. Yesterday, we were exploring an island near Palmer Station called Torgersen and found a few of my favorite birds. I would appreciate some help figuring out what species they are – using the same dichotomous key we used earlier:
Click here for the ID Antarctica Sea Birds Dichotomous Key
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In the first picture, there is a parent standing with its two chicks. It can be especially challenging to identify animals when they are young, so try and use the key for the adults.
In this second picture, the birds are out hunting for food! I think there may be more than one species present, can you figure out which is which? Hint: it is very difficult to identify the bird with its head underwater so don’t worry too much about that one.
