Animal Role in Endurance Crew's Survival

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Animals were the most crucial factor in the survival of the crew of the Endurance. They were all vastly different animals with many different characteristics. Additionally, the animals each had an importance that benefited the men hugely. Endurance was never going to make it out of the ice, so the men had to rely on nature to survive the cold, long years on the ice. "Daily hunting parties brought in large stores of meat and blubber that would be critical in the bitter cold ahead"(pg 27) Nevertheless, the crew would not have survived if it weren't for the plentiful supply of penguin and seal that the men were able to collect. Conversely The animals were very dangerous and put the men at risk some of the time. The different kinds of animals and the benefits of the animals were very significant to the survival of the men, and made up for the fact that the animals were also a little bit dangerous. …show more content…

Seals are semi-aquatic marine animals with 4 finned flippers. Ordinarily, they weigh between 400 and 600 kilograms and measure between 6 and 11 feet in length. Despite the fact that the crew of the Endurance spotted thousands of birds during their polar mission, the most memorable bird spotted on this journey was the albatross that followed the journey of the James Caird, Stancomb Wills, and Dudley Docker in a mocking manner that really got to the men because the albatross could reach land in less than an hour where it would end up taking them multiple days. Although penguins are very slow on land, they have long black tapered bodies with webbed feet, adapted for swimming. And the most dangerous of all the animals, killer whales. Impressively, killer whales weights’ range from 1.4 tonnes; to 4.5 tonnes and measure from 5-8 metres in length. Consequently, they have no natural predators in the

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