Antarctica's
Penguin Colonies

 

Why penguin colonies in
Antarctica are special

Millions of penguins annually return to their ancestral Antarctica colonies to rear their young. Some Antarctica colonies have hundreds of thousands of penguins.

Emperor penguin

colonies

The most interesting of all

All penguin colonies fascinate, but the unique breeding behavior of the emperor penguin species in Antarctica captures the imagination.

Female's role
Unlike other penguin species, the emperor penguin female lays only one egg per year. After doing so, she gives the egg to her mate, and then slowly waddle-walks upwards of 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the sea to feed.
Male's role
Meanwhile, the male incubates the egg by himself. To keep the egg warm, he cradles it on his feet and blankets it with his special abdomen skin fold. He also preserves heat by closely huddling with his fellow egg cradlers. He does this for nine weeks. 
Female comes back
The female returns to take over at hatching. She begins the rearing process while the hungry male departs for the sea to eat (which he hasn't done in over 2 months).
Shared parenthood
Once fed, he returns. Thereafter, the parents more or less rotate the rearing and sea-feeding necessities until the chick is old enough to go to the sea and fend for itself.

Interesting tidbits

about penguins

Major penguin colony locations

They are scattered around the periphery of Antarctica. Below is a sampling of the major sites:

Moving about

They are birds but they cannot fly. They walk on land, but in a comical way. However, penguins are elegant and speedy in the water - some exceed 30 kilometers (20 miles) per hour.

Diving depth

Emperor penguins can dive to a depth of over 500 meters (1600 feet) - and can remain underwater for 20 minutes.

Food

Penguins feed on fish, krill, shrimp and squid in the sea surrounding Antarctica - while leopard seals and killer whales feed on the penguin.

Southerners

Penguins exist in the wild only in the southern hemisphere.

Lifespan attributes

Penguins mate for life and some penguins live for decades.

Lengthy migrations

Like salmon, penguins travel great distances to return to breed at the exact location where they were born. Only the emperor penguin lives year-round in Antarctica. The others migrate in winter to slightly warmer latitudes.

Sex indication

It's difficult for the untrained human eye to tell the male from the female penguins.

Largest penguin

The emperor penguin is the largest of the penguin species (about the height and weight of a heavyset six-year-old boy).

Evolution

It engineered penguins for keeping warm in their frigid Antarctica environment by giving them compact waterproof feathers and a blubber layer under the skin. Evolution also provided them with a relatively high body mass to skin area ratio - and a unique physiological system that minimizes body heat loss during breathing.

Keep alert in the colonies

Penguins are adorable, but watch where you step while exploring their colonies. They can create quite a mess - and stench (which increases with the temperature). And, if you come too close, some might snap at your legs with their sharp avian beaks.

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