10 emperor penguin facts for World Penguin Day – in pictures

  25 April 2017    Read: 4227
10 emperor penguin facts for World Penguin Day – in pictures
Emperor penguins are perfectly adapted to survive harsh Antarctic conditions but their habitat is threatened due to climate change. To celebrate World Penguin Day, the WWF has chosen its top 10 emperor penguin facts.
An emperor penguin colony on the frozen Ross Sea, Antarctica

1.Emperor penguins breed and raise their young mostly on “fast ice”, a floating platform of frozen ocean that is connected to the land or to ice shelves. From birth, they spend their entire lives in and around the Antarctic ice, although very rarely vagrants have turned up off the coast of New Zealand.



An emperor penguin colony on the frozen Ross Sea, Antarctica.

2. Emperors are the biggest of the 18 penguin species found today, and one of the largest of all birds. They are approximately 120cm tall and weigh about 40kg, although their weight fluctuates through the year. They would be dwarfed by the ancient “mega-penguins”. Fossils recovered from the Antarctic peninsula reveal that a colossus species of penguin which lived about 37m years ago may have stood 2 metres tall and weighed upto 115kg.



A colony of emperor penguins at the Dawson-Lambton glacier, Antarctica

3. There are approximately 595,000 adult emperor penguins in Antarctica.



Emperor penguins linger on the ice edge at Cape Washington, Ross Sea, Antarctica

4. A survey led by British scientists in 2012 used satellite technology to identify emperor colonies from the poo stains left on the ice at breeding sites. They discovered a number of previously unvisited colonies and counted every individual penguin. There are now thought to be about 54 emperor colonies in the Antarctic.



Emperor chicks with an adult at Snow Hill Island colony, Antarctica

5. Emperors incubate their eggs during the long dark southern winter months. Courtship displays are intricate but copulation is quick and the female lays a single egg in May or June. She then passes it over to her mate to incubate and she’s off. She spends the next nine weeks at sea, feeding. The male carefully balances the egg on his feet for between 65 to 75 days to keep it warm and off the snow surface in a specially adapted brood pouch before it hatches.



Dawson-Lambton glacier, Antarctica

6. Emperors are uniquely adapted to survive temperatures that can drop to -50C and winds of up to 200km/hr. They have two layers of feathers, a good reserve of fat, and proportionally smaller beaks and flippers than other penguins to prevent heat loss. Emperors also have feathers on their legs so their ankles don’t get too chilly. Even their feet are adapted to the icy conditions, containing special fats that prevent them from freezing and strong claws for gripping the ice.



Emperors at Dawson-Lambton glacier, Antarctica
Emperor penguins diving in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

7. Emperor penguins are the Olympic divers of the bird world. The deepest recorded dive was 564 metres – that’s the equivalent of nearly double the height of the Shard, Europe’s tallest building. And the longest recorded dive was nearly 28 minutes.



Emperor penguins diving in the Ross Sea, Antarctica
Penguins swim near the surface, loading their plumage with air in Ross Sea, Antarctica

8. Emperors feed mostly on Antarctic silverfish as well as other species of fish, krill, and some squid. An adult penguin eats about 2-3 kg per day, but on a good day they can eat twice this much to build up their store of body fat for the long winter, or for feeding their chicks.



Penguins swim near the surface, loading their plumage with air, Ross Sea, Antarctica 8 Emperors feed mostly on Antarctic silverfish as well as other species of fish, krill, and some squid. An adult penguin eats about 2-3 kg per day, but on a good day they can eat twice this much to build up their store of body fat for the long winter, or for feeding their chicks.

A pair of emperor penguins with their chick on the frozen Ross Sea

9. Male emperor penguins will not eat for up to four months, from the time they arrive at the colony to breed until the egg has hatched and the mother returns to feed. They lose almost half of their body weight during this time. They need to rely entirely on the reserve of body fat that they built up during the summer feast to survive the long winter.



A row of emperor penguins on the move at Cape Washington, Ross Sea, Antarctica

10. Emperor penguins can climb steep ice cliffs and have been known to breed on ice shelves, if the sea ice below fails. In 2013, British and Australian scientists discovered two emperor penguin colonies on ice shelves at Barrier Bay and Larsen C, with a further two temporary colonies on the Shackleton and Nickerson ice shelves. This may be a useful adaptation strategy, but it might not help in the long term, if warming continues.



/The Guardian/

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