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Video length: 4 min
Antarctica: discovering Livingston Island with explorer Jean-Louis Étienne
On board Persévérance, Jean-Louis Étienne’s oceanographic sailboat, the France Télévisions teams accompanied the adventurer to the island of Livingston, in the north of Antarctica. – (France 2)
On board “Persévérance”, Jean-Louis Étienne’s oceanographic sailboat, the France Télévisions teams accompanied the adventurer to the island of Livingston, in the north of Antarctica.
On the island of Livingston, in the South Shetland Islands, the France Télévisions teams are guided by Jean-Louis Étienne. This unspoiled land in the north of the Antarctic Peninsula is isolated from all human civilization. “We are in wild lands, the animals have no fear of humans”, enthuses the explorer. “There’s a very intimate relationship with nature, it’s wild, and I never get tired of it.”
A life in harmony
The team came across a group of around fifty elephant seals resting. According to Jean-Louis Étienne, seeing them is down to luck. These animals are among the largest mammals in the world and males weigh on average two tonnes. Further on the island is an impressive colony of gentoo penguins, whose population is increasing unlike other species. Elephant seals and penguins live in harmony in Livingston, but avian flu threatens them. By the end of the century, two thirds of Antarctic species would be threatened.
