The South Pole is the coldest, windiest, and driest place on Earth. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at the South Pole; it went down to -128.6°F (-88.0°C)! The Antarctic land does not support many life forms. Most of the land of Antarctica is a frozen desert, with less precipitation than the Sahara Desert (under 2 inches = 5 cm a year). Oddly enough, 70% of the world's fresh water is frozen in the region of the South Pole.

All of the Antarctic animals have adapted to life in extremely cold conditions. Some, like the whales, seals, and birds, have an insulating layer of fat to protect them from the cold. Others, like many fish and insects, have special chemicals in their blood (natural antifreeze proteins) that keep them from freezing. Many animals (like penguins and seals) have a compact body form and thick skin to help retain body heat. Birds also have waterproof plumage (feathers) and downy insulating feathers.

Some animals leave Antarctica during its horrendous coldest months, from June until August. Animals like the Humpback whale migrate to warmer waters to reproduce after eating huge amouns of krill in Antarctic waters. Many other animals (like the Emperor penguin) remain at the South Pole year-round.

Land and sea animals from Antarctica include:

• Crustaceans - krill (euphausiids), copepods, amphipods, isopods, crabs, shrimp, sea spiders, and many others
  
• Other marine invertebrates - squid, cuttle-fish, octopus, marine snails, limpets, sponges, sea stars, sea squirts, nudibranchs, sea anemones, comb jellies, corals, hydroids, sea urchins, Antarctic krill, zooplankton, and many others
  
• Insects and Arachnids - Springtails, mites, the midge Parochlus steineni (the only winged insect native to the Antarctic), and others
  
• Fish - Antarctic cod, ice fish, crocodile fish, dragon fish, robber fish, rat-tailed fish, hagfish, skates, eel-pouts, sea snails, and many others
  
• Mammals - Fur seals (including the Elephant seal, Leopard seal, Weddell seal, Crabeater seal, Ross seal, and Fur seal), Whales (including the Blue whale, Fin whale, Sei whale, Southern right whale, Humpback whale, Minke whale, Sperm whale, Killer whale or Orca, Southern bottlenose whale, Blackfish, Dusky dolphin, Cruciger dolphin, and Spectacled porpoise)
  
• Birds - many penguins (including Emperor, King, Macaroni, Rockhopper, Chinstrap, Adélie, and Gentoo), many albatrosses (including the Lightly-maned sooty, Wandering, Gray-headed and Black-browed), many petrels (including the Blue, Kerguelen, Gray, Great-winged, White-headed, White-chinned, Snow, Southern giant, Wilson's storm, Black-bellied storm, Gray-backed storm, and pintado), many prions (including the dove, fulmar, and thin-billed), Antarctic fulmar, Antarctic cormorant Kerguelen cormorant, Dominican gull, Brown skua, McCormick's skua, Arctic tern, Kerguelen tern, Wattled sheathbill, Lesser sheathbill, South Georgia pintail, Kerguelen pintail, and South Georgia pipit (the only Antarctic songbird).