Beauty … A pair of wandering albatross, magnificent soaring birds of the Southern Ocean, at their nesting site on Albatross Island. Wandering albatross have the longest wingspan of all birds, reaching twelve feet. This pair, with no chick in the nest, delicately preened each other's plumage as they established a pair bond that will carry them through a future breeding attempt and, perhaps, last an albatross lifetime. We wish them well. Albatrosses, as a group, are threatened because of mortality caused by long-line fisheries in the Southern Ocean, so every breeding attempt counts.
Southern elephant seals, the largest of all the pinnipeds (the seals, sea lions, and walrus), reach eighteen feet and 3.5 tons! Once they were reduced to near extinction by sealers taking them for their oil-rich blubber. They have recovered remarkably and are now common on the sub-Antarctic islands. In spring these bulls fought viciously for control of a harem and the right to breed. Now they lie in heaps on the beach. Brief squabbles arise but are quickly resolved by a roar and a shove, and then they return to their principal activity: loafing.
