Dear 6th Grade Class at Virgo,
Hello and greetings from Antarctica. I appreciate all of the great
questions and will do my best to try and answer them for you. For starters,
you asked if Antarctica was what I expected. Well, I would have to say
that everything is even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. The mountains, icebergs, and glaciers are
massive and I have found that photographs only catch a glimpse of what there is to see down here. The wildlife
is especially amazing. Already I have seen thousands of penguins,
including Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo (as well as Magellenic, Rockhopper,
Macaroni, and King penguins in the Falklands on the way down). It is
wonderful to have the opportunity to see adult penguins guarding their eggs
and/or chicks.
However, whenever we visit a penguin colony we must follow
the Antarctic Conservation Act which prohibits persons from touching the
penguins (or any other form of wildlife) without a permit. The purpose of
this act is to protect wildlife from unnecessary human disturbances. Permits are only issued to scientists who need to have direct contact with the animals for their
research. These scientists are aware of how their actions can impact the
penguins and therefore they take proper precautions to reduce the amount of
stress placed on the animals. When we were on the tour ship (Explorer),
the naturalists in charge of the trips to the various islands made sure
that the passengers knew the proper distance to stay away from the wildlife
and how to avoid stressing the animals.
In your e-mail, you also asked how life is down here. Well, it is
definitely not as primitive as you might think. As I am sure you already
know, we are staying at Rothera, a British base. The temperature has been
around 30F since we have been down here, so keeping warm has not been that
difficult. Mostly, it is important that you dress in layers when going out
into the field and to make sure that you bring extra clothes in case you
get cold or wet.
The facilities here at Rothera are very comfortable and similar to
college dorms. For instance, there are bunk beds in the rooms and one
men's and one women's bathroom per floor. Also, we have a cafeteria that
provides meals at certain times each day. There are lots of fun things to
do such as watch movies, play board games, read in the library, go skiing
or snowboarding,etc, so I am never short of entertainment options. Well, I
hope that all of you are enjoying your taste of winter in Wilmington.
Hopefully I have answered all of your questions. If you have any other
questions, please let me know, I would be more than happy to answer them. Take care!
Sincerely,
Jenny :)
|
