Life at the end of the world
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Life at the end of the world

by Thale Damm-Johnsen, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

A lone snow petrel on its way home to its breeding areas in the mountains surrounding Lake Untersee, Antarctica. After leaving behind more than 150 km to catch prey in the Southern Ocean some rest will be sorely needed.

The photo was taken on a windy day out doing geological fieldwork for the project ANTSIE (Antarctic Sea Ice Ecolution from a novel biological archive). We were struggling in the wind, but the snow petrel were flying gracefully around us. Really displaying its mastering of this remote, brutal, but stunningly beautiful environment.