--- title: "#Antarctic Animals & Superpower Traits (16 Species) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "Surviving the coldest continent on Earth and the Southern Ocean around it, whether insulated by blubber, dense plumage or fur, or kept from freezing by antifreeze proteins in the blood. Explore all 16 species with this trait in the AnimalTracks wildlife encyclopedia." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/icon-512.png" --- # #Antarctic Animals & Evolutionary Adaptations > Surviving the coldest continent on Earth and the Southern Ocean around it, whether insulated by blubber, dense plumage or fur, or kept from freezing by antifreeze proteins in the blood. - **Trait Category**: Extreme Biomes - **Species Count**: 16 Curated Creatures - **Browse Web**: [View interactive trait gallery](https://animaltracks.wiki/tags/antarctic/) ## Species With #Antarctic - [Adélie Penguin](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/adelie-penguin/) (*Pygoscelis adeliae*) - **Superpower**: Steers by the sun across featureless ice, and some can dive to depths of up to 175 meters. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: The Hives (Classic Punk & 70s Garage) - [Antarctic Fur Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/antarctic-fur-seal/) (*Arctocephalus gazella*) - **Superpower**: Insulating coat containing over 300,000 hairs per square inch that traps an impermeable layer of air against the skin in freezing water. - **Danger**: Medium | **Conservation**: Endangered - **Soundtrack**: The Stooges (Classic Punk & 70s Garage) - [Antarctic Icefish](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/antarctic-icefish/) (*Champsocephalus gunnari*) - **Superpower**: Belongs to the only vertebrate family that lacks working hemoglobin genes and working red blood cells: its blood carries oxygen dissolved in the plasma instead. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Not Evaluated - **Soundtrack**: Biosphere (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes) - [Antarctic Krill](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/antarctic-krill/) (*Euphausia superba*) - **Superpower**: An estimated 400 million tonnes in the Southern Ocean, photophores on muscular stalks that aim their light away from incoming light, and the ability to shrink, burning its own body protein as fuel, when food is scarce in winter. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Tycho (Glacial Ambient & Drone Soundscapes) - [Chinstrap Penguin](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/chinstrap-penguin/) (*Pygoscelis antarcticus*) - **Superpower**: Microsleep architecture: nods off more than 10,000 times a day in naps that average four seconds, banking over 11 hours of sleep in each brain hemisphere while it stands guard against egg-stealing skuas. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Shakti (South Asian Raga & Indian Fusion) - [Colossal Squid](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/colossal-squid/) (*Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni*) - **Superpower**: Along with the giant squid, the largest eyes in the animal kingdom, about 27 centimeters (10.6 inches) across, plus tentacle-club hooks that can swivel 360 to 720 degrees to keep their grip on prey. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Evoken (Sludge Metal & Abyssal Doom) - [Crabeater Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/crabeater-seal/) (*Lobodon carcinophaga*) - **Superpower**: Teeth with interlocking, multi-cusped crowns that seal shut like a sieve, straining krill from a mouthful of seawater - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Nils Frahm (Neo-Classical & Baroque Chamber) - [Emperor Penguin](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/emperor-penguin/) (*Aptenodytes forsteri*) - **Superpower**: Dives deeper than 500 meters and longer than 23 minutes, with hemoglobin that grips oxygen unusually tightly. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Near Threatened - **Soundtrack**: Ólafur Arnalds (Neo-Classical & Baroque Chamber) - [Gentoo Penguin](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/gentoo-penguin/) (*Pygoscelis papua*) - **Superpower**: Bimodal diving: in one tracking study, shallow dives averaged 4 metres and deep dives 80 metres - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Backstreet Boys (90s Pop & Eurodance) - [Giant Antarctic Sea Spider](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/giant-antarctic-sea-spider/) (*Colossendeis megalonyx*) - **Superpower**: Like other sea spiders it has no gills: oxygen diffuses in through pores in its cuticle - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Not Evaluated - **Soundtrack**: BIG|BRAVE (Sludge Metal & Heavy Drone) - [King Penguin](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/king-penguin/) (*Aptenodytes patagonicus*) - **Superpower**: Carries its single egg on its feet for about 54 days, and tracked birds have dived past 240 meters. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Yann Tiersen (Neo-Classical & Baroque Chamber) - [Leopard Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/leopard-seal/) (*Hydrurga leptonyx*) - **Superpower**: Lobodont teeth that filter krill, and incisors that grip a penguin by the skin - **Danger**: Deadly | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Fear Factory (Industrial Metal & Cyber Thrash) - [Ross Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/ross-seal/) (*Ommatophoca rossii*) - **Superpower**: 70-millimetre eyes that may be an adaptation for hunting in dimly lit depths - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Dead Can Dance (Darkwave & Ethereal Witch House) - [Snow Petrel](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/snow-petrel/) (*Pagodroma nivea*) - **Superpower**: A defensive spit of partly digested stomach oil that builds up into nest deposits, some radiocarbon-dated to the last ice age. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Ride (Dream Pop & Shoegaze) - [Southern Elephant Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/southern-elephant-seal/) (*Mirounga leonina*) - **Superpower**: Breath-holds of up to two hours on oxygen-rich blood, and a roaring proboscis - **Danger**: High | **Conservation**: Vulnerable - **Soundtrack**: The Bug (Sub-Bass Dub & Industrial Heavyweight) - [Weddell Seal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/weddell-seal/) (*Leptonychotes weddellii*) - **Superpower**: Rasps breathing holes open through new sea ice with its canine and incisor teeth, dives as deep as 720 metres, and can stay under for more than 90 minutes with no neurological or behavioural impairment. - **Danger**: Low | **Conservation**: Least Concern - **Soundtrack**: Jon Hopkins (IDM, Glitch & Ambient Synthesis) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://animaltracks.wiki/tags/antarctic/#collection", "name": "#Antarctic Animals", "description": "Surviving the coldest continent on Earth and the Southern Ocean around it, whether insulated by blubber, dense plumage or fur, or kept from freezing by antifreeze proteins in the blood. 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