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Adélie Penguins, Antarctica, 1988

Two curious Adélie penguins stray from their group to appraise a photographer. Although penguins "really do have a personality," insists scientist Wayne Trivelpiece of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, "you wouldn't want one as a pet." Beyond the braying, wheezing, and squawking, penguins exude a truly noxious smell of guano.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Land of Isolation No More: Antarctica," April 1990, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by George F. Mobley