ANTARCTIC FAUNA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12709, 2 August 1919, Page 5

ANTARCTIC FAUNA.

PLEA FOR PROTECTION. ■CTnder tha caption of “Shall the penguins Call Us Huns/’ Mr Apsley CherryGkirrard, assistant zoologist Scott’s Last Expedition, contributes the following article to the London “ Spectator”:— A correspondence has taken place lately pointing out the need of protection to Antarctic fauna, especially the seals and penguins. The animals are being exploited for (tommercial purposes, and it is urged that some effective check must be found, and that quickly. There seems no doubt that there have been some horrible doings. There is no doubt, either, that tho uovernments concerned, must take thought to prevent these killings for the future. }Ve are told that the boiltw • 11 °*, penguins has stopped, that is something to go on with I ( fepme People divide mankind into _ 8 , and T o s, aristocrats and buSrt (Heaven help the bureaux which have some bf them for their crats I), and so forth. The Polar explorer discovers another division. The ,owest ?P e cies in this genus asks him: was it cold? The highest snecies is quite intelligent, but the one in between ? dways says: “What is the good? If you try to be serious, and explain laboriously that to you knowledge seems to be a useful thing, quite apart from its commercial value they say: How interesting!” but 'really they are bored, and when they go away they add: “ Priceless fellow, that! Rum ideas he’s got! What!” But now I know the answer. I shall point out that there are things to kill —penguins and seals, and whales. And they will think mo a sensible fellow: , i ch indeed I am. Unfortunately, I shall have to add, some of these animals are very difficult to reach. Only three people have seen the Emperor penguin nesting, and two , The Emperor is an impossible kind of bird really, from the fn I +b le^!Ti P ° 1 ? t i 0f 7 icw > for he nests e of th ’ 3 Ant arctic darkness, t i teinpera , tu , ro anywhere below nt L d6 ? rees ? f frost > and the blizzards blowing, always blowing, against hj b 7 ck ’ - And all the* time precious egg balanced upon his big feet and presses-it pater- , ma ternally’ (for both sexes squabble for the privilege) against a bald patch m his breast. And when at last he simply must go and eat something in the open 6 ea near by he just puts the egg down on the ice, and twenty eggless Emperors rush to pick it up. And they fight over it, until it may be broken; but some of the So strong is the birds’ ternal feeling that they will nurse a piece of ice if they cannot beg, borrow or lay an egg. They exist by a glut of maternity. Consequently fewer chicks arrive than there were eggs, and fe'r+i, adu t3 l h t n there chicks. Tor tho same fights go on for the possession of the chicks, which, poor things p 11 crawd in b° a ny ice-crack to escape Irom so much kindness. And there they sometimes freeze; and som e are torn to death. And when a big blizZ k rd^ l9 J .a g ° mg blow (they know all about the weather), the parents take the children out for miles across the sea-ice, until they reach the threshold of the open rea. And there they sit until the wind comes, and the swell rises, and breaks that ice-floe off; and away they go in the blinding drift to join the main pack-ice, with a private yacht all "to themselves. And there w e mil leave them to shed their down and prepare themselves feathers against the nest winter. * ha s been found out by Dr E. A. Wilson, Scott s right-hand man, and one of the beat travellers who have ever pulled a sledge or cooked a hoosh. And so I shall tell my commercial friend uhcit xie will find i>h© Emperor penguin a tough nut. How about the little AdeheP He is the first to greet you when you enter the pack, hurrying from miles away to see what this strange new beast can' be like an old little gentleman in a new white waistcoat, and black tail-coat, who is rather late for dinner. “ Aark, aark 1” they cry, as with a shake of their backs and a wag ol their tails they pop out of the' water on to a nearer floe. Their bodies are so full of curiosity that there is no room lor fear- They like music-hall songs, and joy-rides on icebergs, and mountaineering. They even like drill--1“- .They are children, the most lovable children. But if you want to catch them nesting, and boil them, or anything of that kind, you must penetrate the pack-ice, sometimes several hundred miles of it and you will want a special ship No I On second thoughts, it is not don©. Not yeti But there are other penguins, Kings, Victorias, Tufted, Crested—all kinds ,of penguins—which breed- on islands that are not protected by pack-ice, and darkness, and great cold, but yet are*ar away from inhabited lands. And there are sea-lions and sea-elephants, and a few years ago there were fur seal. But they say this last is now extinct, or nearly so. And then there 1b the albatross. Uante tells us that those who have committed carnal sin are tossed about ceaselessly by the most furious winds m the second oirole of Hell. The corresponding hell on earth is found in the Southern Oceans, which encircle th© world without break, tempest-tossed by the gales which follow one another round the world from west to east. You will find albatrosses there—great Wanderers; and Booties, and Mollymawks sailing as lightly before these funous winds as ever do Paolo and Francesca. Round the world they go, as I believe; I doubt whether they land more than once a year, and then they com© to tho islands of these seas te wte& i

_ There are .many other beautiful seabirds, but most beautiful of all are the fenovyy petrels, which approach nearer to the fairies than anything else on earth. They are quite white, and seemingly transparent. They are the familiar spirits of the pack, which, except to nest, they seldom if ever leave, flying ‘here and there independently a maz y fashion, glittering against the blue sky like so many whit© moths, or shining snowflakes” (Wilson in the -Discovery Natural History Reports). And then there are the Giant petrels, whose colouration is a puzzle. Some aie nearly _ white, others brown, and they exhibit every variation between the one and the other- And on the whole the white forms appear the further south you go. But the usual theory of protective colouration will n . ln >. Tor there are no enemies against which this bird must protect itself. Is it something to do with radiation of heat from the body? These are a few of the Antarctic fauna. 1 have said nothing, however, about the whales, which find in the C v , wa^ ers of the Antarctic a more abundant supply of food than in the temperate waters further north. They may be seen in 'largo numbers, and killer whales hunt in packs of a hundred or more. But they have great teeth, and hunt seals and men, and are no true whales. Just lately Lillie has snown that Humpback whales spend the summer months in the Antarctic Ocean and migrate northwards in the winter’, in order that their calves may he horn in wanner seas. The lifq of th® Antarctic and subI Antarctic has been exploited commercially in the past, and is certain to be exploited in the future. Sooner or later some control will have to be organised, and it is to be hoped that steps will be taken now. Not to do so is wu i i*' i l ,*,* B a^so bad business. Whales should be protected when thev are going to calve. Most of u s would prefer that penguins andseals (for commercial purposes they are mostly hair seals, not fur seals) were not killed at all; but if they are to be killed we must insist that only a limited number are killed, that the least possible amount of pam is caused, and that the utmost use is made of the product. The blubber, flesh, bones and blood should all be used, and the killing of penguins for the sake only of the small amount of biubber they carry should be absolutely forbidden. Tt is not very difficult for the Governments concerned to exercise an effective control, if it is stipulated that all produce is landed at a "iven port, and that this is a condition of any permission given, or lease granted Otherwise the penguins will call us Huns, and w© shall deserve every bit of it.