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1 Dollar 1999, Antarctic

no number in katalog -
Years of issue: 22.04.1999
Edition: 10000
Signatures: D. John Hamilton
Serie: No Serie
Specimen of: 22.04.1999
Material: Plastic coated with a pattern and holograms
Size (mm): 160 х 80
Printer: British American Bank Note Co. Ltd., Montreal

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1 Dollar 1999

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1 Dollar 1999

1 dollar 1999The long-tailed Gentoo penguins on Petermann island.

The long-tailed Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) a penguin species in the genus Pygoscelis, most closely associated with the Adélie penguin (P. adeliae) and the Chinstrap penguin (P. antarcticus). The breeding colonies of gentoo penguins are located on ice-free surface. Colonies can be directly dependent on the shoreline but are also considerably located inland. They prefer shallow coastal areas and often nest between tufts of grass. In South Georgia, for example, breeding colonies are two kilometres inland. Whereas in colonies farther inland, where the penguins nest between tufts of grass, they shift location slightly every year because the grass may get trampled over time. Gentoos breed on many sub-Antarctic islands. The main colonies are on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Kerguelen Islands; smaller populations are found on Macquarie Island, Heard Islands, South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Petermann Island is a small, low and rounded island, lying off the northwest coast of Kiev Peninsula in Graham Land, Antarctica, a short distance south of Booth Island and the Lemaire Channel. It is a popular tourist destination.

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1 Dollar 1999

The Adélie Penguins on Paulet island.

The Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) is a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast, which is their only residence. They are among the most southerly distributed of all seabirds, along with the emperor penguin, the south polar skua, the Wilson's storm petrel, the snow petrel, and the Antarctic petrel. They are named after Adélie Land, in turn named for the wife of French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, who discovered these penguins in 1840.

It is one of three species in the genus Pygoscelis. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago, about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus Aptenodytes. In turn, the Adélie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 million years ago.

The Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast, which is their only residence. They are among the most southerly distributed of all seabirds, as are the Emperor Penguin, the South Polar Skua, the Wilson's Storm Petrel, the Snow Petrel, and the Antarctic Petrel. Adélie penguins living in the Ross Sea region in Antarctica migrate an average of about 13,000 kilometers (8,100 mi.) during the year as they follow the sun from their breeding colonies to winter foraging grounds and back again.

Paulet Island is a circular island about 1.5 km. (0.93 mi.) in diameter, lying 4.5 km. (2.8 mi.) south-east of Dundee Island, off the north-eastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Because of its large penguin colony, it is a popular destination for sightseeing tours.

The island is composed of lava flows capped by a cinder cone with a small summit crater. Geothermal heat keeps parts of the island ice-free, and the youthful morphology of the volcano suggests that it was last active within the last 1,000 years.

Paulet Island was discovered by a British expedition (1839-1843) under James Clark Ross and named by him for Captain the Right Honorable Lord George Paulet, Royal Navy. In 1903 during the Swedish Antarctic Expedition led by Otto Nordenskiöld his ship Antarctic was crushed and sunk by the ice off the coast of the island. A stone hut built in February 1903 by shipwreck survivors, together with the grave of an expedition member, and the cairn built on the highest point of the island to draw the attention of rescuers, have been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 41), following a proposal by Argentina and the United Kingdom to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a very large breeding colony of about 100,000 pairs of Adélie penguins. Other birds known to nest on the island include imperial shags, snow petrels and kelp gulls.

Comments:

Informal currency Antarctic continent.

Created by a group of enthusiasts, U.S. citizens, founded in 1996 Antarctic Overseas Bank, despite the fact that according to international agreements, Antarctica is not the territory of any state, and therefore not entitled to its own currency.

Denomination banknotes issued by the Antarctic Overseas Bank from 1996 to present - 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. According to the organizers shares, each such banknote can be exchanged for U.S. dollars at par and send all proceeds to finance scientific research in Antarctica itself.