[Animals] Emperor penguin, basic data

[FNX Magokiler]

The emperor is the largest of all penguins: an average specimen measures about 115 centimeters. These birds, unable to fly, live in the Antarctic ice and in the icy waters that surround them.

The penguins have resorted to psychological adaptation techniques and collaborative behaviors to cope with an incredibly hostile environment, where the thermal sensation can reach up to -60°C.

Penguins huddle together to shelter from the wind and keep warm. Individuals take turns going inside the group, where it is relatively more sheltered and warm. When one penguin has warmed up a bit, it returns to the perimeter of the group so that others can protect themselves from the frigid conditions.

Habitat and reproduction
Emperor penguins spend the long winter on the ice, and even breed during this inclement season. The females lay a single egg that they immediately abandon to embark on a long hunting expedition that will last no more and no less than two months. Depending on the extent of the ice shelf, they will have to travel around 80 kilometers to reach the open sea.

 

 

Where they will feed on fish, squid and krill. When in the sea, emperor penguins can dive to a depth of more than 550 meters - deeper than any other bird - and stay underwater for more than 20 minutes.

While the female is away, the males keep the newly laid eggs warm, but not by sitting on them to protect them from the elements, like other birds, but by balancing them on their legs and covering them with their feathered skin, forming a marsupium. During the two months that this kangaroo work lasts, the males do not eat anything and are at the mercy of the Antarctic elements.

When the females return, they bring a stomach full of food, which they regurgitate to feed the newly hatched chicks. Meanwhile, the male emperors, once their task is completed, embark on a journey to the sea in search of food.

The mothers take care of the chicks and give them shelter with the warmth of their own pouch. Outside this warm cocoon, a chick would die within minutes. In December, the Antarctic summer, the ice shelf begins to break up and the open sea emerges next to the breeding site, just when the young penguin is ready to swim and fish for itself.

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.es/animales/pinguino-emperador-datos-basicos