What lives in Antarctica, has two wings but can’t fly, and waddles everywhere it goes? The penguin!—or more specifically, the emperor penguin. These unusual-looking creatures of the icy continent have unique characteristics that set them apart from other birds. They can be found tobogganing—sliding across the ice on their bellies—to conserve energy. And they can drink saltwater, filtering the salt through their nasal passages.

Emperor penguins have a lifespan of 20 years. They live in colonies in the coastal areas of Antarctica, one of the coldest climates on Earth, where temperatures can plummet as low as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit. They survive the weather because they work together as a cohesive social unit and huddle in groups to keep warm. Those in the center of the group are shielded from the wind and kept warm by the body heat of the penguins on the outside. The penguins in the middle will shift to the outside so the other penguins can take their turn in the warmer center. Emperors are the largest of all penguins and stand up to four feet tall and weigh up to 99 pounds. Most penguins feed on surface krill. Emperor penguins’ superior swimming and diving skills, however, allow them to feed on the more substantial fish and squid in the deeper water. They use their wings as flippers to propel themselves through the water at speeds of up to 9 miles per hour. Emperors routinely dive 900 feet and are capable of diving as deep as 1,800 feet. They can hold their breath for up to 22 minutes.

To help the emperor penguin survive the frigid waters as it hunts, a layer of insulated blubber keeps the body warm. In addition, its feathers are waterproof and denser than those of most birds.

But the emperor penguin has an even more remarkable trait. 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.

What is surprising is that the father is the first to take on the role of caretaker. The egg is immediately rolled onto the male’s feet and enveloped into an extra fold of downy abdominal skin called the “brood pouch.” The mother then leaves to feed miles away in the open sea. The incubation process of the egg is left entirely to the male.

For nine weeks the father will stand almost motionless to protect the delicate egg. He will not even move to eat! While he waits for the egg to hatch and the female to return, the father can lose one-third to one-half of his body weight.

The female instinctively returns around the same time that the egg hatches. The father will transfer the newly hatched chick into the mother’s brood pouch. Free from his responsibility for the moment, he sets out to find food to nourish himself and to store for the chick later. He sometimes treks as far as 60 miles to find open water—and prey!

Timing is crucial for the chick’s survival. If it hatches before the mother returns, the male can produce a curd-like substance that will nourish the chick for a short time. But, if the female does not return very soon after the chick hatches, the father will be forced to abandon the chick as he himself will not survive much longer without food.

Upon returning from her hunting expedition, the female feeds the chick by regurgitating partially digested food that she has stored in her stomach. After a few weeks, the male returns—at which point, they take turns feeding the chick through regurgitation.