Antarctica

The bookmark with the image of the Adélie Penguin (a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast). In 1840, French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville named these penguins for his wife, Adélie.



Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, encapsulating the South Pole. At 14.0 million km2 (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice.
Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent. There are no permanent human residents, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, seals, nematodes, tardigrades, mites, many types of algae and other microorganisms, and tundra vegetation.