Photos

An elephant seal and a gentoo penguin at Hannah Point, just off the Antarctic peninsula.

At this time of year the elephant seals must leave the water for four or five weeks to moult. They form large groups ashore during this time. They are very large, weighing up to 4 tonnes. In order to join the group already ashore they must travel overland for hundreds of metres, which they do a few metres at a time. This seal has about a hundred metres to go! To reach the group he passes between rookeries of Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins, which are not at all disturbed by the seals.

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