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A penguin-speckled iceberg floats in frigid grandeur off South Georgia. This remote British outpost in the far South Atlantic is a haven for millions of seabirds and seals. 
Sinuous for its size—up to 12 feet and more than a thousand pounds—the leopard seal is a formidable predator, its mouth often stained with the blood of penguins and other seals. 
Giant petrels patrol the beach at St. Andrews Bay, thronged by king penguins and elephant seals. During the breeding season South Georgia hosts the densest mass of marine mammals on Earth. 
The wreck of the catcher boat Petrel lies stranded at the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken. Petrel and her sisters did their work too well, depleting some whale species and nearly exterminating the blue. By the 1960s there was little left to hunt. 
A light-mantled sooty albatross looks down on Gold Harbour. Individuals of the species can live past 40, so this nesting bird may have witnessed a change in view. In 1985 a glacier buried this shore; since then the ice has retreated a half mile inland. 
Soaring on seven-foot wings, a pair of light-mantled sooty albatrosses cruise the nesting cliffs of Gold Harbour. Nearly a third of all the birds of this species nest on South Georgia. 
Soaring on seven-foot wings, a pair of light-mantled sooty albatrosses cruise the nesting cliffs of Gold Harbour. Nearly a third of all the birds of this species nest on South Georgia.
A squadron of gentoo penguins wings through the waters of Drygalski Fjord. Unlike true Antarctic penguins, the gentoo prefers more temperate climes. As oceans warm, this species is prospering, expanding its range southward. 
An adult king penguin searches for its chick among a crowd of "oakum boys"—a nickname derived from the frayed rope sailors once recycled for caulking.
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