Mission Antarctica

For 25 years, Dr. Hans-Ulrich Peter has been traveling to the Antarctic – longer and more frequently than any other German ornithologist. In 1983, when the ornithologist from the University of Jena first visited King George Island with an East German research expedition, he stayed for a full 15 months. Back home, articles were written about him, and there was even a comic in the children’s newspaper “Atze”. During his trip, he and two colleagues filmed an educational movie about Antarctic wildlife. Fascinating images from a wilderness that was almost untouched at the time.

Since then, he has returned repeatedly, counting and mapping penguins, giant petrels, skuas – the birdlife of West Antarctica. The signs of change he has documented are alarming.

The reportage accompanies the Jena-based biologist and his teams in their arduous and sometimes dangerous work in the inhospitable nature of King George Island, and tells the story of 25 years of exciting research. Through someone who experiences the threat to nature firsthand: Hans-Ulrich Peter – our man in the ice.