Antarctic conservation blog

Animal spirits from the past

Lucy, Monday 2 November 2009

Temperature today: -20^oC
Wind speed: 15 Knots
Blue skies, some hazy cloud

Back in the 1980s an international treaty agreed that in order to maintain the pristine natural environment, all non-native species should be removed and banned from returning to Antarctica.

There is of course one very notable exception – humans are still allowed to come!

Back in the heroic era of Antarctic exploration (1895 – 1917) these kinds of environmental issues were not even considered. Both Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton brought husky dogs and ponies down to Antarctica by ship, to be used for sledge hauling on their respective expeditions.

Captain Oates and the ponies in the stables at Cape Evans, 1911 © Canterbury Museum

Out at the huts you can still see some vestiges of these animals. There are dog biscuits, dog harnesses and even the skeletons of a few of the dogs themselves. I have recently been conserving a felt-lined pony blanket which remains, even to this day, covered in long creamy-coloured pony hairs. Last month we worked on 2 pony snow shoes which were special custom-made contraptions for Captain Scott’s ponies to try to prevent their hoofs from digging into soft snow surfaces.

Pony shoe used on Captain Scott’s 1910 - 13 expedition © Canterbury Museum

Although live reindeers were never, as far as I know, actually brought to Antarctica, the incredible insulating properties of reindeer fur (discovered by native human populations in the far North and used by explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen in the Arctic) were also exploited by the polar explorers of the Antarctica. Attached to most of the socks I have conserved recently I have found traces of reindeer fur, where it has become detached from the reindeer fur sledging shoes (Norwegian finnesko).

The discovery of such poignant little reminders of a bygone age is what makes my job so especially interesting.

Posted in Antarctica, Conservation, Polar exploration, Scott, Shackleton

2 Responses to “Animal spirits from the past”

November 2nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Jonathan O.Millar says:

Sounds like you’re having an interesting time. I’m enjoying the blog, it’s interesting little titbits of information and you write well. Keep it coming
Winter in Trondheim is going to be a breeze when you get back.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Dusan says:

Hei Lucy, I have read somewhere on web about digging and taking samples from 100 year old whiskey under Shackleton’s huts floor. Is it true or just some fake? If you will be part of explorers, let me know how was the taste.
Dusan