The emperor penguin weights up to 46 kg and is the tallest of the living penguin species. Its diet includes fish, krill and other crustaceans as well as cephalopods, such as squid. Aptenodytes forsteri is an underwater flyer using its forelimbs for propulsion and can remain submerged up to 18 minutes, diving to a depth of 535 m. The young are born in breeding colonies during the Antarctic winter. The average lifespan is 20, but some may reach an age of 50 years.

The dark-coloured bowhead whale is a filter-feeder inhabiting eutrophic Arctic and sub-Arctic waters during the entire year. The species has the largest mouth of all animals. The filter-feeder system (baleen) in the mouth is used to strain plankton like krill and other crustaceans. The whale is a slow swimmer, can dive up to 40 minutes and uses underwater sounds for communication. Weight: 75 (males) to 100 tons (females). Life span: 150 to 200 years.

The leatherback sea turtle is the largest living turtle and can easily be distinguished from other extant sea turtles by the lack of a bony shell. Instead oily flesh under the integument of the body causes a leathery texture of the skin. This rather deep diving reptile has the most hydrodynamic body design of any sea turtle and a pair of large, flattened forelimbs (flippers) tapering towards their ends, like wings, which are be used for underwater flight.