No, you can’t shake hands with the penguins
Scientists fear the boom in polar expeditions is doing untold damage to the fragile ecosystem in Antarctica.
Wang Pei, who worked at China’s Great Wall research station, said team members were greeting from 12 to 100 visitors at a time, up to four times a week, when he was deployed as part of a scientific study team last year.
And despite warnings to stay at least five metres away from the penguin, some tourists ignored the rules, said wildlife filmmaker Xu Chenghua, who led a recent Antarctic excursion.
He described selfie-seekers dancing in front of the black-and-white seabirds, making loud noises and even “shaking hands with them.” “This is a place only the rich can afford,” Xu told the South China Morning Post, “but I think their manners are inconsistent (with their wealth).”
For his part, Wang said he appreciates that people want to tour the research station — China’s first at the bottom of the world — and mingle with the penguins.
But he says frequent visits are hampering researchers’ work and threatening to jeopardize the region’s ecosystem.
China is now the second biggest source of visitors to Antarctica after the United States, and there’s no sign of a slowdown.
“This market is getting bigger and bigger,” said a spokesman for Chinese-based polar tourism agency Caissa.