Saurabh Das, Threshold: Life at Antarctica’s Shifting Edge (ANIMALS 2026)

Adélie penguins at Casey Station, East Antarctica, navigate the ancient rhythm of survival in waters that are warming three times faster than the global ocean average. These images document critical foraging behaviors during the 2025-26 breeding season—the explosive porpoising launches that allow these pursuit predators to hunt krill in ice-marginal waters, captured with visible prey and perfect mirror reflections that reveal the precision of their underwater hunting. As a resident photographer at Casey Station, I have unprecedented access to document the complete breeding cycle of over 40,000 pairs within 30 minutes of the station. This series captures both the intimate behavioral moments and the vast environmental context—the tabular icebergs and rocky colonies that define their breeding habitat. While expedition photographers visit for days, my extended deployment allows patient observation of these climate-vulnerable species whose survival strategies are increasingly tested by habitat transformation. These images represent conservation storytelling that combines scientific documentation value with visual narrative—showing not just beautiful animals, but the behavioral adaptations that Antarctic wildlife depend upon in our rapidly changing world.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.