odds & ends item from WINTER 2005 ISSUE
God’s Amazing Creation
All Hail the Emperor!
What lives in Antarctica, has two wings but can’t fly, and waddles everywhere it goes?—Penguins!
Penguins are unusual-looking creatures, but many of their attributes (in this case specifically those of Emperor Penguins) are simply amazing. Let’s start with some of the basics before we look at the most remarkable characteristic.
Emperor Penguins live in colonies in the coastal areas of Antarctica, one of the coldest climates on earth, where temperatures can plummet to -40 to -50°C (-40° to -58°F). Interestingly, they will often keep warm by huddling together in groups. Those in the center are shielded from the wind and surrounded by the body heat of other penguins. Once warm, they move to the outside, while those on the outside take a turn in the warmer center.
Emperors are also the largest of all penguins, standing up to 4 feet tall and weighing up to 99 pounds. Although most penguins feed on surface krill, Emperor Penguins are very good swimmers and divers; their diet consists of fish and squid. To reach this larger prey, they use their wings as flippers to propel them through the water. They routinely dive up to 900 feet deep, and one record dive was measured at an astounding 1,700 feet! During these underwater hunting expeditions, they can reach speeds of up to 9 miles per hour and stay submerged for up to 18 minutes.
To keep warm in the frigid arctic waters, Emperors have a number of unique body features. First, unlike most birds, they have a layer of insulating blubber under their skin. In addition, their feathers are actually waterproof and denser than most birds—approximately 70 feathers per square inch! Last but not least, between the insulating blubber and the waterproof feathers, there is a layer of air right above their skin. So, the heat from their bodies warms this layer, and their feathers shield it from cold and water.
Now, let’s look at the most remarkable of all Emperor Penguin traits—their reproduction process. Unlike most birds, which mate in the spring, Emperors mate at the beginning of winter, the coldest time of the year in one of the coldest places on earth. After a 63-day gestational period, the female will lay a single egg.
Surprisingly, this one egg is immediately rolled onto the male’s feet and enveloped into an extra fold of downy abdominal skin called the “brood pouch.” At this point, the female leaves to feed miles away in the open sea. The incubation process of the egg is left entirely to the male.
For the next nine weeks, males will stand almost motionless to protect the egg. They are unable to move around very much or even eat during this period! Although it helps that males group together to stay warm while waiting for the females to return, they will still lose one-third to one-half of their body weight during this period.
The female finally returns around the same time that the egg hatches. She then moves the newly hatched chick into her brood pouch, while the male leaves to feed—sometimes trekking 60 miles to find open water! The female feeds the chick during this period by regurgitating the food she eats. After a few weeks, the male returns—at which point, they both take care of the chick, taking turns feeding it through regurgitation.
Amazingly, if the chick hatches before the female returns to feed it, the male can produce a curd-like substance that will feed the chick for a brief period. However, if the female does not return very soon after the hatching, the male is forced to abandon the chick, as he himself will not survive without food.
Finally, chicks will stay under the folds of either their mother’s or father’s abdominal skin for at least the first seven weeks of their lives. Without their fully developed down covering, if the chicks fall out onto the ice during this time, they can freeze to death within two minutes. After that initial period, parents will leave the chicks in groups called crèches—penguin nurseries—while they go to hunt and return with food to regurgitate.
At the age of four, these chicks will be ready to mate and begin the process themselves. It will continue over the course of their lives, which can last up to 20 years.
Source: www.nationalgeographic.com; www.antarcticconnection.com