Table of Contents

January 7, 2025..................................................................pg 2

January 8, 2025 - January 9, 2025.................................pg 5

January 10, 2025 - January 11, 2025............................pg 8

January 12, 2025..............................................................pg 10

January 13, 2025..............................................................pg 13

January 14, 2025..............................................................pg 16

January 15, 2025..............................................................pg 21

January 16, 2025 - January 17, 2025...........................pg 23

January 7, 2025

Tommorow was the day. We were going to Antarctica for a research trip to find animal samples. I have done this many times, but this time, its no ordinary expedition. Its an expedition to find a NEW species, and THEIR animal samples. Here is how it all started:

A few years ago, me and my research group went on an expedition to collect mineral and animal samples, and found a strange footprint in the snow once we were heading back to the station. We went quickly , and started researching at the Palmer Research Station, and eventually found no matches with other 

animals. We decided it was a new species in Antarctica, but had no proof, so nobody believed it. 

And that is why, 3 years later, we want to prove that a new species, seen never before, is currently alive, in Antarctica.  

January 8, 2025 - January 9, 2025

Me and my research group went to the airport from our houses. Our flight was going from New York to Ushuaia, a small town at the tip of South America. We walked to our airplane that we had to board and went inside. There, we waited for the plane to take off into the skies and beginning our flight. 

At last, a few minutes later, we took off from the runway and started soaring through the skies. 

The flight wasn’t that bad though. The food was very 

good, there was lots of leg room, but that’s basically it. I was asleep during most of the flight, just desperate to get to Antarctica.

But after almost a day of flying, we finally got to Ushuaia. We walked out of the airport, and headed our way to the harbor so we can get on the cruise ship.  The harbor wasn’t that far, so it took very little time to get there. Once we got there, we got on the boat, and started to go to Anvers Island. We had to wait almost 2 hours just to get there because of the very harsh seas. 

started following a trail that led to the Palmer Research Station, and that also took a long time. By now, I was just tired ad wanted to head back home. But the boat left, so I guess we are stuck here for some time. 

We got to the Palmer Station finally, was greeted by a sign, and went inside. We were given the task to go outside, as always, but explore and find tyhe new species that caused all this. 

And so, me and my research group went outside, got all our gear, and started our adventure. 

January 10, 2025 - January 11, 2025

January 10, 2025

We started walking along the coast, since the animal footprint was located near the coast. We examined the ocean and the snow very carefully, and son, we started to see more of those new animal footprints. We followed them for almost an hour, and walked and examined the sea and the land. We had no hope; we saw none of these new animals. 

We walked for even longer, but it was becoming the end of the day, so we walked back to the Palmer Station, and rested there to wait for the next day. 

We were very surprised to see it, and we decided to name it. 

“Maybe name it the Dolpharus? It looks like a dolphin and a walrus combined,” I said.

“Yeah. I guess we should name it that,” said Sal, one of my group members.”

January 11, 2025

It was a new day, and it was time to go outside and find that new animal. We went walking in the same direction, for a very one time, but it was STILL like the same as yesterday; we didn’t find the new animal. We went into new directions, and went all over the place, but still had no hope of finding it. It was becoming the end of the day as always, so we went to rest again. Hope we can finally find this animal. 

January 12, 2025

Sorry I wasn’t writing much in the past two days. I was just super mad and tired about finding this animal. But anyways, third time’s the charm, and we were going to go again outside, just to find that animal. We were tired of walking for so long, so what we were going to do was set up cameras wherever we 

went and check the footage too see the new animals, and then go to the location. 

ANd so we did, we brought cameras, and put them wherever we went, and soon we came back, to connect the cameras with one of the computers in the computer lab. And soon, we 

saw many new animals in sight. We were delighted with joy, because we finally spotted these animals after days of searching. But anyways, we now had to go to the location, and once we got there, we started deciding what we should name the animals. 

“I think we should name it the Dolpharus. It looks kind of like a Dolphin and a Walrus combined,” I said.

“I agree with you,” said Sam, one of my group members. 

“Yeah, we should name it the Dolpharus. But anyways, we should keep on walking to see if we can find more of these animals,” said Jade, another one of my group members.

Sure!” I said.

And we walked for even longer, just trying to find these new creatures. We eventually got to see even more at some point, and saw that they were marine mammals, even though they also live on land. 

But even though we have to get more info on these strange creatures, we still have to go back to the 

Palmer Station so we can get some rest, because it is almost the end of the day. 

So time for a day four of our exploration; hope we get to find more and learn stuff!

January 13, 2025

Its a new day, and now we need new information on the Dolpharus. To do that, we get some cameras, radio transmitters, and name tags. 

So we went outside with all the necessary materials, and went to the same location we went yesterday. We found more dolpharuses in the sea. We started placing cameras nearby, as well as on the animals once they came back on land. We also put radio transmitters on some of the dolpharuses we found, and some name tags that had a number. Once we did all of that, we 

went back to the Palmer Station, sat in the computer lab, connected the radio transmitters and cameras, and started examining, taking notes, and discussing the dolpharus. 

After hours of examining, we got lots of information. I don’t think you are going to read this, but I will tell you what we learned.

We learned that the dolparus’s predators are Orca Whales and Octopuses, the Dolpharus’s body parts are a long white tusk between the eyes, 4 flippers that are both used for swimming and walking,

two small eyes, a dorsal fin, and a blowhole. We also noted that their diet contains polar cod, clams, molluscs, gastropods, cephalopods, sea cucumbers, marine worms, lobsters, squid, and shrimp. 

And that is it that we discovered today. We all went to rest in the Palmer Station and wait for tomorrow. Let’s see what we can discover tomorrow!