When I was on my way back from the south pole a few years back, I sat next to a penguin researcher (not the author of this piece, but likely a colleague) on my flight between CHC and AKL. She goes every year and spends months with the penguins. The way she talked about them was extremely reverent and she seemed to revel in the extreme isolation. Not for me, but I can appreciate. I've also heard the penguin researchers don't smell great when coming back from the field, to the extent that the heli pilots don't like picking them up...
You heard right :). This also extends (in those latitudes) to sea lion researchers, elephant seal researchers, and more.
> I've also heard the penguin researchers don't smell great when coming back from the field
Probably true for anyone working on the field with animals. Heck, even entering the rat stabulary in a biology lab smells.
When this site is working, sadly it has been deteriorating over time, it shows Gentoo Penguins at GARS O'Higgins Antarctica Radio Telescope. It is live, updated every 15 minutes. Alas right now it is completely broken. There are no Humans there in the winter to fix things.