Prepare Yourself: We Have a Whole Lotta Penguins

Updated on Jan 20, 2016 at 9:45 AM

Many of us are not thrilled that Winter is upon us, but some thrive in those cold temperatures. Take the king penguins and fur seals of the South Georgia Islands, for example. This particular bunch of animals resides in the Antarctic, and photographer Kathleen Hertel made a trip there to photograph them. Of the animals, she said:

"I fell in love . . . I always loved animals and nature and now I was standing in a place that very few people have ever been. We were only allowed to go within five meters of the animals, however, they were allowed to come as close to you as they wanted. Since they had little human contact over their lives, they weren't afraid of humans. I sat and watched some of the king penguins, and their curiosity got the best of them; closer and closer they walked towards me until they were a mere one meter from me. . . . On top of thousands of penguins were hundreds of adorable baby fur seals."

To celebrate Penguin Awareness Day, scroll through to see Kathleen's beautiful pictures of these penguins and seals, and then check out more photos of wild animals.