Penguins are the number-one attraction for many visitors to Antarctica. If you go on a ship that is allowed to make shore landings, you may see them. But to get a close look at penguins, you have to be smart.

First of all, keep in mind that Antarctica’s visitor rules require that you remain at least five meters away from the penguins in order not to disturb them. You could easily become responsible for the death of a little penguin or the destruction of an egg if your too-close presence should disturb a penguin parent.

If a penguin is trying to move away from you, you must stop what you’re doing and back off even if you’re farther than five meters away. However, the rules don’t prevent a curious penguin from approaching within five meters of you — as long as the bird makes the move, not you.

Little penguins, in particular, are quite curious. I’ve seen several lucky tourists who were astonished to find that little penguins came right up to them. If a penguin comes extremely close to you, remember that you are not allowed to touch or hold it.

Here are more tips for getting close to penguins.

Ignore the smell: where penguins live is filled with guano（海鸟粪）and the smell takes some getting used to.

Be quiet because loud noises make penguins nervous. Fast or sudden movements signal meat — eating animals to penguins, and they react accordingly, so slow down when you walk around them.

Since it may take half an hour or more before the penguins get used to you, you need to be patient. Put away your camera — too often people are so focused on getting the pictures that they forget to look with their own eyes, but most of your most memorable experiences in Antarctica will be marked in your mind, not on a roll of films.

The Beagle Brigade

Return to the United States from a trip abroad ,and your luggage will get inspected by the Beagle Brigade, a team of beagles and their human partners. Working with human partners, the beagles sniff out potential threats to American agriculture.

An orange or apple, for example, might have a Mediterranean fruit fly. Hams could carry a disease such as hog cholera. These and other pests could destroy farmers' crops and livestock. " Once we introduce something   that   is not part of the environment, there may not be any controls of it in the environment," notes Lisa Davis at the National Dog Detector Training Center in Orlando, Florida. "The best thing for us to do is prevent it from coming across the border and becoming established. "

When a beagle sniffs specific food smells, it signals its partners by siting there. The human officer then investigates. When the dog is right ——which happens 90 percent of the time ——it gets an edible（可食用的） treat.

"The dog is not out there working," explains Davis. " It's out there playing. It's a game to the dog. "The handlers give the beagles plenty of food and love. They make sure they get first-class medical attention, too. When the dogs finally retire after 9 to 11 years ,they will find caring homes for them. It's a dog's life indeed!

Their people partners work and study somewhat harder. As specialized quarantine（检疫） officers,most hold degrees in the biological sciences or related sciences.

How well does the Beagle Brigade do its job? " On average," notes Davis, " each year our 54 teams prevent around 75,000 prohibited , restricted items. Since even one infected item could cause widespread destruction, that's a great result for America's agricultural environment.