Detailed century-old observations of penguin behaviour, including sexual activity so depraved and shocking it was recorded in Greek alphabet code, have been acquired by the Natural History Museum.

Curators at the museum announced the purchase of original manuscript notebooks made by the explorer George Murray Levick, part of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic in 1910-13.

As well as insights in to the unstoppable sex lives of penguins, they shine light on a remarkable story of survival and endurance with Levick forced to live in a cramped ice cave for seven months after he was unable to re-embark on the Terra Nova in February 1912.

Douglas Russell, a senior curator of birds at the Natural History Museum, said the handwritten notes were a unique account of huge historical and zoological research interest.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Levick’s notebooks, from observations of an Adélie penguin colony, include the birds’ shocking sexual behaviour recorded in code. Photograph: NHM London

Together the notes represent the first major observations of an entire breeding season of an Adélie penguin colony.

They are an exciting and important acquisition, Russell said. “Material such as this is often unavailable to researchers and now, for the first time, modern science has the opportunity to study Levick’s first-hand account and revisit his conclusions.

“The importance of original manuscripts cannot be underestimated as they add crucial contextual and scientific data to our existing collections.”

Levick was a young surgeon on Scott’s Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole and was entrusted with documenting the area’s natural history. “He is a hugely positive soul,” said Russell. “He is a nice chap.

“He becomes completely obsessed with the Adélie penguin colony. One of the greatest joys in reading the notebooks is that, when the first birds arrive, you can tell the mounting excitement that he has. It is palpable in the pages … it blows his mind.”

Levick was shocked by elements of penguin behaviour, documenting the excesses of young males, or “hooligan cocks”, in Greek alphabet code. These include necrophilia, sexual abuse of chicks, non-procreative sex and homosexual behaviour.

But that’s penguins for you. “The thing with penguins is that sperm is cheap,” said Russell. “They have one over-riding aim which is to fertilise and bring on the next generation … the birds will pretty much have sex with anything.”

The notebooks are particularly important because the area Levick was studying, Ridley Beach on Cape Adare, is still home to around 335,000 Adélie penguins, the largest colony in the world. But, scientists predict, not for much longer.

“As we see rising sea levels, it is highly likely that the entire colony will move. Part of the value here is that this is an account of an area that will one day be lost, it will all be reclaimed by the sea.

“As a scientist, Levick was decades ahead of his time and now, more than 100 years later, his words still have much to tell us,” said Russell.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Levick during his stay on Cape Adare, Antarctica, with the Terra Nova expedition from which he later survived being marooned. Photograph: Antarctic Heritage Trust (nz)/AFP/Getty Images

The survival of the notebooks is all the more remarkable because of what Levick and five others endured after their time on Cape Adare when they were unable, after the death of Scott, to re-embark on the Terra Nova.

Effectively marooned, they were forced to make an ice cave where they lived for seven months surviving on blubber and birds they had killed. After living in “utterly horrendous” conditions, Levick then walked 200 miles back to home camp.

“His ability to weather this storm is extraordinary,” said Russell. “I do think there is a massive parallel for us all in that whatever we think of as isolation, we are nowhere near what Levick went through. Maybe it gives us the ability to look at things in context.”

The announcement was made to coincide with world penguin day. The museum plans to make the notebooks physically and digitally available for future research, outreach and education

Andrea Hart, head of special collections at the museum, said: “The Levick notebooks are a vital addition to our existing collection and the scientific observations held in original manuscripts such as these remain as relevant and important today as when they were first created.

“We’re delighted that Levick’s work can now be accessed by academics, researchers and the public, more than a century after his seminal trip to Antarctica.”