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1. Shifting responsibilities
2. Fast way of travelling
3. Learning to survive
4. Safer and merrier
5. Changing conditions
6. Difficult incubation
7. Cold-climate companions
8. First important steps
A. Emperor penguins are well-known for their cliff-diving. Normally, young penguins jump only a couple of feet from floating sea ice into the water when they feed. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes juveniles find themselves in a tricky location for a water entry when they become very hungry. Such situations force them to jump from a great height no matter what. This is a true demonstration of the penguins’ fortitude. These fascinating birds have evolved over millions of years to survive on the coldest, windiest, and driest continent on Earth.
B. Emperor penguins can grow up to 45 inches tall and weigh up to 88 pounds. Many of their most amazing traits can be only seen during nesting season, which runs through the most difficult time of year. Female emperor penguins lay a single pear-shaped egg early in the Antarctic winter when temperatures can fall to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit and winds can reach hurricane force. Needing to refill their energy reserves, they quickly shuffle the eggs to their mates to take care while they move to the ocean to feed.
C. Male emperor penguins spend the next two months incubating the eggs balanced on top of their webbed feet and shielded from the cold by a flap of the penguin’s abdominal skin that forms a pocket, or so called “brood pouch”. The soon-to-be fathers will go nearly four months without food, losing roughly half their weight during breeding season. Eggs typically hatch by August, just as the females are returning to provide their young with a first meal. Then the chicks will be fed and warmed by their parents over the next five months.
D. Huddling etiquette is a survival skill all young emperor penguins must learn. The youngsters learn to huddle, but not always neatly. In fact, there is always a big mess about huddling. Instead of waiting for their turn to reach the warm centre, impatient chicks will often jump right in. A few nestle together, then others race up and slam into the pile. As the huddle grows, latecomers try pushing in right in the warm portion of the huddle. Huddled together, the little penguins begin to socialize with each other.
E. By mid-December, as the Antarctic summer approaches, the chicks have started to shed their fluffy down for waterproof plumage. After that, the chicks no longer require parental care – adults leave them in groups of chicks called crèches while they go out to fish. From then on, the juveniles have to fend for themselves. They quickly leave their colony in search of food. To do that, they have to take a literal leap of faith into the sea. It is a very important moment when they begin their life in the ocean, where they’ll spend an average of five years before returning to breed.
F. Emperor penguins settled in the unforgiving climate of Antarctica, hence they have a thicker layer of body fat, scalelike feathers, and clawlike feet especially suited to walking on the ice. However, penguins use more than their feet for movement. On land, where their waddling slows them down, emperor penguins often resort to tobogganing – sliding on their bellies while pushing with their flippers and feet. This transportation allows them to cover vast distances across the icy expanse as they travel to and from the sea.
G. Scientists do not believe that cliff-jumping by young penguins is directly caused by climate change. However, one expert suggests that rising temperatures might push more emperor penguins to breed on permanent ice shelves instead of sea ice. If this happens, young penguins would have to jump from taller heights when leaving the nest, which could increase risks. This case emphasises a harsh reality: under some climate scenarios, scientists predict, 80 percent of Antarctica’s emperor penguin colonies will disappear by the turn of the century.