2 Pounds - Elizabeth II The emperor penguin, Silver

The British Antarctic Territory, though a genuine UK Overseas Territory administered from the Foreign Office, has no permanent civilian population — its "residents" are rotating scientific personnel at research stations. Coins issued in its name are legal tender in a jurisdiction where almost no one spends money, a technicality that has made the territory a reliable vehicle for commemorative silver programs since the 1970s.

Emperor penguins breed on Antarctic sea ice during the polar winter, the only bird species to do so — a biological fact eccentric enough that early naturalist accounts were dismissed in Europe as exaggeration.