EN: First visit of South Georgia this season! February is the perfect time of year to observe the female Antarctic Fur Seals nurse their pups. The lactation period is much longer in this species compared to the other Antarctic seal species – up to 4 months! The moms can’t stay with their pups the entire…
Weiterlesen
This summer, it was time for a change! Instead of working in the Polar Regions, I went to Australia (i. e. in the southern winter). The Kimberley region on the continent’s Northwest was one of the earliest settled parts but is still among the most remote wilderness areas on the planet. Let me show you…
Weiterlesen
As of now, there are 132 different species of marine mammals in the world. These animals are lumbed together because of their life style but they don’t actually have a lot of things in common. Yes, they all are mammals. That means there are certain characteristics that all of them share with other mammals, marine…
Weiterlesen
In July 2020, I worked on a couple of cruises along the Norwegian coast. One day in Melfjorden, beyond the Arctic Circle, we came across a dead whale. The carcass had started decomposing and was floating at the surface. It looked white as the skin had come off and the body was bleached (I guess…
Weiterlesen
In this article for Special Tours Iceland, I am focusing on what we have learned about the cultural lives of whales and dolphins. The better we study these animals, the more we realize that they are not that different from us. There are amazing examples of ingenious ideas of how to catch food and other…
Weiterlesen
On 31 July 2015, a Humpback whale we had never seen before was sighted on one of the Whale watching tours in Faxaflói, the bay off the coast of Reykjavík. As we carefully approached the animal, our hearts dived: The whale was severely entangled in fishing gear. Some fishing lines were wrapped around its entire…
Weiterlesen
EN: In mid-July, I had one of the most special whale watching tours in a while thanks to two minke whales. Minke whales were hunted here in Iceland until very recently, so they can be pretty shy. On some occasions, though, they really show off their inquisitive nature. This video is just a short glimpse…
Weiterlesen
For the Special Tours Iceland website, I’ve put together some information about the Killer whales (Orcas) in Icelandic waters. The reason for this was our encounter with two Killer whales on one of our Whale watching tours in early June. Learn more about these two and other Orcas, not only in Iceland but in all…
Weiterlesen
EN: You know you got the right job when it doesn’t feel like work 🙂 I love this picture of a penguin approaching me carefully at the end of a landing on one of the South Shetland Islands. Generally, animals in Antarctica aren’t afraid of humans, as this curious Gentoo penguin demonstrates. We keep a…
Weiterlesen
