Shore leave

Every summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the islands around Antarctica attract millions of beachgoers, some with family obligations and some with a need to just vegetate. Both types appear in this scene on South Georgia Island.

King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus)--often mistaken for emperor penguins, which are featured in the recent documentary March of the Penguins--lay their eggs in December. Until early February the parents take turns being personal incubators, and whichever one is off duty can take a food break. In this photograph Yuri Feklistov captured a trio of king penguins--perhaps unattached, perhaps on break--ambling by, while several southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) caught some R & R.

A male southern elephant seal, like the juvenile in the foreground here, is unmistakable, with an inflatable nose and four tons of flesh. This juvenile is about seven years old; he spends his summers on land, molting and resting. He would have competed with other, stronger males for a mate five months earlier, going without food for many weeks. Then he would have made a grueling 1,200-mile journey to fishing grounds, spent a month or two fishing 24/7, and finally swum the 1,200 miles back to land. So it's no surprise that when Feklistov focused on this hulking seal, the only action was the fitful twitch of a flipper and the occasional belch.

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