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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.
The most interesting
penguin colonies
All penguin colonies fascinate, but the unique breeding behavior of the emperor
penguin species in Antarctica captures the imagination.
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.
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.
Then, 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). 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.
Major Penguin
Colony locations
Penguin colonies are scattered around the periphery of Antarctica. Below is a
sampling of the major sites:
Interesting tidbits
about penguins
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.
 Emperor penguins can dive
to a depth of over 500 meters (1600 feet) - and can remain underwater for 20 minutes.
Penguins feed on fish, krill, shrimp and squid in the
sea surrounding Antarctica - while leopard seals and killer whales feed on the penguin.
It's difficult for the
untrained human eye to tell the male from the female penguins.
Penguins mate for life and some penguins live for decades.
Like salmon, penguins
travel great distances to return to breed at the exact location where they were born.
The emperor penguin is the
largest of the penguin species (about the height and weight of a heavyset
six-year-old boy).
Penguins exist in the wild
only in the southern hemisphere.
Only the emperor penguin
lives year-round in Antarctica. The others migrate in winter to slightly warmer latitudes.
Evolution engineered
penguins for keeping warm in their frigid Antarctica environment by giving them
compact waterproof feathers and a blubber layer under the skin. It also provided
them with a relatively high body mass to skin area ratio - and a unique
physiological system that minimize body heat loss during breathing.
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.
Clickable Antarctica
wonder map
Antarctica
wonder menu
 
What it's like
on an Antarctica
cruise ship
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