The most endangered animals in Antarctica are albatrosses. As these majestic seabirds soar across the globe they fall prey to oil spills and entanglement in plastic or netting. They are also affected by changes in food concentration, loss of habitat and climate change. Albatrosses The wandering and southern royal are the largest albatrosses, and two of the most common ones we see on our voyages. They are both classified by the IUCN Red List as vulnerable to becoming endangered, and wandering albatross numbers are listed as decreasing. Penguins Of the 8 penguin species found in Antarctica, two are vulnerable, two are near-threatened and the others have healthy populations. Read more about Antarctic penguin populations here. Whales and seals Antarctic seals and whales were hunted to near-extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries. While commercial sealing officially ended in 1972, commercial whaling continued in some form until 2019. Today, humpback whales are thriving and they are listed as least concern. However many of the other large baleen whales, including the blue, fin and sei whales, have been slower to recover. Blue and sei whales are both endangered, although their populations are increasing. There is good news for fin whales, which have been downgraded from endangered to vulnerable since 1999, and are increasing. Despite having been hunted to within an inch of extinction, both fur seals and elephant seals have strong populations, crowding subantarctic beaches during breeding season and filling the air with their belches and battle cries. In fact, all Antarctic seals are faring well, classified as least concern. Read more about seal populations here. Due to Antarctica’s inaccessibility and challenging research conditions, there are many species scientists still know very little about. There may be others we have yet to discover. As the ocean warms and the air temperature increases, the race is on to gather as much baseline data about Antarctic wildlife as possible.