Halfmoon Island
How LARGE is large? How BIG is big? As human beings we are a part of the biosphere (the community of animals and plants on the earth) and as such tend to compare ourselves to the superlatives of the planet. Fastest, Smallest, Quickest, Strongest, Best adapted, and perhaps Largest. By that I don’t mean the fastest service in a Los Angeles restaurant, the smallest waistline, the quickest computer download, the strongest gym trainer; etc. etc. I am alluding to the true dominions of nature; Cheetah, microbobe, snapper turtle, gorilla, and the rest.
During our first landing in Antarctica, we came face to face with remnants of the LARGEST animal to have ever lived on the planet (period). I emphasize the end of the previous sentence only to have you reread the statement. The largest animal to have lived on our planet was not a gigantic dinosaur of the Mesozoic, not a mammoth of a bygone ice age, but the blue whale. These great behemoths of the southern seas roamed the waters of Antarctica for million of years in search of krill to fulfill their gargantuan appetites. Unfortunately for them, and us, their enormous size was their undoing. Whales of several species, but especially the blue, were slaughtered in huge numbers during the previous century. We found evidence of that on our walk here at Halfmoon. The mandible (lower jawbone) seen here is approximately 20 feet (6 meters). You can become aware of the great size of the mouth and by extension the animal from this photograph. We were all impressed by the enormous size of one bone of this animal, but also by the past harvest of it along with the many thousands of other whales taken from the southern seas.
The better news is that humans have been busy with other matters during the preceding decades and have protected the blue along with other species. Blue whales have been spotted the past few years in areas where they have not been seen before. Hopefully existing for future generations of explorers and expeditions.
How LARGE is large? How BIG is big? As human beings we are a part of the biosphere (the community of animals and plants on the earth) and as such tend to compare ourselves to the superlatives of the planet. Fastest, Smallest, Quickest, Strongest, Best adapted, and perhaps Largest. By that I don’t mean the fastest service in a Los Angeles restaurant, the smallest waistline, the quickest computer download, the strongest gym trainer; etc. etc. I am alluding to the true dominions of nature; Cheetah, microbobe, snapper turtle, gorilla, and the rest.
During our first landing in Antarctica, we came face to face with remnants of the LARGEST animal to have ever lived on the planet (period). I emphasize the end of the previous sentence only to have you reread the statement. The largest animal to have lived on our planet was not a gigantic dinosaur of the Mesozoic, not a mammoth of a bygone ice age, but the blue whale. These great behemoths of the southern seas roamed the waters of Antarctica for million of years in search of krill to fulfill their gargantuan appetites. Unfortunately for them, and us, their enormous size was their undoing. Whales of several species, but especially the blue, were slaughtered in huge numbers during the previous century. We found evidence of that on our walk here at Halfmoon. The mandible (lower jawbone) seen here is approximately 20 feet (6 meters). You can become aware of the great size of the mouth and by extension the animal from this photograph. We were all impressed by the enormous size of one bone of this animal, but also by the past harvest of it along with the many thousands of other whales taken from the southern seas.
The better news is that humans have been busy with other matters during the preceding decades and have protected the blue along with other species. Blue whales have been spotted the past few years in areas where they have not been seen before. Hopefully existing for future generations of explorers and expeditions.
