South Georgia Wildlife

In comparison to the islands’ non-existent human population, the numbers of penguins which inhabit the islands is overwhelming. There are considered to be 7 million individual birds on South Georgia, largely made up of the three dominant species:

Macaroni: 3 million pairs

King: Half a million pairs

Gentoo: 105,000 pairs

Chinstraps (6,000 pairs), adelie and rockhopper are also found, but in far fewer numbers.

St Andrews Bay & Salisbury Plain are the most famous penguin colonies on South Georgia, both with +200,000 king penguins. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder and set against the dramatic backdrop, the visual and olfactory assault is really quite something.

Hard to miss being a dominant force on many beaches, the islands’ seal population is truly staggering.

Fur seals: There are well over 2 million southern fur seals, with 95% of the world's population converging on South Georgia each summer. The fur seal population was all but wiped out by sealers but they’ve sprung back with a vengeance. Found in such thick densities in December at the height of the breeding season, going ashore can be a real challenge and at times it simply isn’t practical to try to do so. Caution when walking amongst fur seals is strongly advised as they can be aggressive.

Elephant seals: On top of the fur seals, half of the world's population of southern elephant seals (more than 400,000 individual animals) also come to South Georgia to breed. Their curious name comes from their vast size and the large proboscis belonging to the massive adult males. Males elephant seals can be over 20 feet/ 6m long and weigh up to 8,800 pounds (4,000kg) making the beachmaster males defending their harem during November’s mating season a formidable sight.