Penguins Destroy Antarctic Hut with Their Poo

The first building that was ever built by the hands of man in Antarctica, a wooden hut that was built back in 1899, is exposed to penguins’ destructive influence. Piles of their excrement are growing bigger and bigger around the hut that was erected by little-known Norwegian explorer Borhrevink – first man that stepped on Antarctica in 1895.

Nigel Watson, New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust chairman said that the hut is smothered in penguin faeces. “This smells horrid,” said he. Nigel Watson also said that the guano layer around the hut is already one meter thick. Guano is the collective notion for all organic wastes that birds and penguins expel from their bodies after digestion.

The interior of the first house in Antarctica leaves much to be desired too. There is a lot of garbage there, the oven and the bed go to pieces. Antarctica is the first continent on Earth, which has man’s first house preserved. Nigel Watson believes that the old wooden hut is a part of great discoveries history. The Antarctic climate with frequent snowstorms has also showed its negative influence on Antarctic explorers’ dwelling. As Watson said, about 2.7 million dollars would be needed for the restoration of the first house in Antarctica.

Last year the Antarctic Heritage Trust announced the donation in order to restore British explorer Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic hut (he explored Antarctica during 1898-1900). By the way, scientists are guilty of that too, not only tourists. A lot of them are not neat when they visit those Antarctic huts. Tourists are ready to pay $36 thousand to travel to the icy continent. However, the maximum that they can donate for the restoration of Antarctic huts is only $20.