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Antarctic Bestiary Terrestrial Animals Living on the ground of the Antarctic Peninsula presents some extreme challenges to organisms, including:
- Highly variable, extreme temperatures, from -30°F to 50°F air temperature, with summer surface temperatures of rocks and moss reaching 70°F.
- Extremely high winds.
- A very short growing season (period when temperatures allow plant growth).
- Wide swings in pH, from 3 (very acidic) to 12 (very basic), partly caused by...
- Immersion in penguin guano (waste) from nesting Adélie penguin colonies in the summer.
- Immersion in both freshwater (from melting glaciers and snow and rain) and saltwater (from waves splashing on the land).
- Dehydration from exposure to very dry air in the winter.
- Exposure to intense UV rays. The protective ozone layer is naturally thinner here, and there is a hole in it (probably caused by human pollution) that opens up in the winter.
- Lack of oxygen, due to being encased in ice for long periods, as well as being immersed in penguin guano filled with oxygen-using microbes.
