Antarctica. The coldest, windiest, driest place on Earth — a continent buried under miles of ice. You might think nothing could survive there. But you'd be wrong.

The ocean around Antarctica is full of life. Seals haul themselves onto the ice to rest and birth their pups. Weddell seals can dive 2,000 feet down and hold their breath for over an hour, hunting fish in the black water below.

Penguins — Antarctica's most famous residents. Emperor penguins huddle in groups of thousands to survive the winter, taking turns standing on the outside where the wind hits hardest. Adelie penguins build nests from pebbles and steal stones from their neighbors when no one's looking.

In the summer, the ice edges explode with krill — tiny shrimp-like creatures that swarm in clouds so thick the ocean turns pink. Whales swim thousands of miles to get here and feast. A single blue whale can eat four tons of krill in a day.

Seabirds nest on the rocky coasts. Skuas patrol the penguin colonies like bandits, waiting to snatch an unguarded egg or chick. Petrels glide over the waves for weeks without landing, snatching fish from the surface as they fly.

Even the ice itself is alive. Tiny algae grow inside it, turning the underside green. Fish with antifreeze proteins in their blood swim through water cold enough to freeze a normal fish solid. Their blood literally keeps ice crystals from forming.

On land? Almost nothing. A few types of moss and lichen cling to rocks. Microscopic animals called tardigrades — water bears — survive in the dirt by shutting down completely when it gets too cold, then waking up years later when conditions improve.

No land animals live year-round on the continent itself — no polar bears, no foxes, no trees, no grass. But in the ocean and on the ice edge, life finds a way. Antarctica belongs to the swimmers, the fliers, and the ones tough enough to wait out the coldest winter on the planet.