Due to the severe cold of the Antarctic, animals have adaptations that allow them to conserve heat, such as warm-blooded composition, large body size, and layers of fur or blubber. The vast majority of these animals depend on the sea for resources, and so many land animals have amphibious adaptations such as flippers.
There are four species of penguins in the South Pole. These penguins are birds, but they do not fly. However, their bodies are superbly adapted to swimming and diving. Penguins breed on land in colonies called "rookeries," and they hunt for fish in the polar sea.
There are six species of seals in the South Pole. Seals live mostly in the water but breed on land. They feed off of fish, krill and squid, and hunt their prey using echolocation--a type of "sight" that uses sonar waves to locate food. They are large and protected by expansive layers of blubber and fur. In the Antarctic, seal populations thrive due to a lack of natural predators.
In the Antarctic there are four species of baleen whales (larger whales that have two blowholes and a comb-like structure for filtering food) and two species of toothed whales (which hunt larger mammals such as squid and large fish). These whales feed in the Antarctic during the winter months and then migrate long distances north to breed during the summer.
There are 35 species of seabirds (including penguins) in the South Pole. These seabirds come to breed and feed during the summer months, when food is nearly unlimited, and migrate north for the winter. One such species, the albatross, is the world's largest flying seabird, with a wingspan that reaches past four meters.
