Emperor penguin – the largest and heaviest of all penguin species.
Emperor penguin - description and photographs.
Growth of the Emperor Penguin is about 1.3 meters, while weight can vary from 20 to 45 kilograms. The head and back of the penguin are black, the belly is white, and in the upper part, closer to the throat, it turns yellow with a bright orange splash. This color allows the king penguin to be invisible to predators in the water.
The emperor penguin is a bird that can't fly, but swims and dives quite skillfully.
Where do penguins live?
The emperor penguin lives in Antarctica (on South Pole) . These large seabirds are remarkably adapted to extreme conditions life at low temperatures. They have several layers of fairly strong feathers that can withstand strong winds, and sometimes the wind speed can be up to 110 kilometers per hour. The thickness of the subcutaneous fat of penguins reaches three centimeters, and this is very serious protection from icy water and from severe frosts. Air temperatures in Antarctica can reach minus 60 degrees Celsius. Special structure beak and nostrils prevent the body from losing heat.
Where and how do emperor penguins live?
Emperor penguins live in colonies. Sometimes there are about 10 thousand birds in a colony, but there are also small colonies with only 300 individuals. Penguins usually live on ice floes, but they return to the mainland to lay and hatch eggs. Scientific expeditions conducted in Antarctica have recorded approximately 38 colonies of emperor penguins. This figure is constantly changing due to difficult living conditions. Many factors influence the number of individuals: for example, the death of chicks. After all, little offspring are threatened from all sides serious dangers.
Penguins are very caring parents.
nesting emperor penguins on ice floes near the shore, so that the area is not blown by cold winds, or on cliffs, while there must be ice holes and open water nearby. This arrangement facilitates the rapid search for food for the chicks. Hatching eggs and raising offspring in emperor penguins is the most touching moment. Around the end of May or beginning of July, the female lays one egg, which weighs only 450 grams. When a couple has an egg, the penguin parents announce it with a loud cry. It is interesting that the male penguin incubates the offspring: he carefully places the egg between his flippers, covers it with the lower fold of his belly and carefully wraps him in the warmth of his body. At this time, the female emperor penguin can finally eat after a long period of fasting: she swims away for three months, leaving the male to incubate the eggs until the chicks hatch.
In order to preserve their offspring, males gather in dense groups. In such groups, the law of justice reigns - the warmed birds from the center give way to those who wait their turn at the edges of the warm ring. This tactic helps reduce heat loss by more than half and maintain the temperature inside the group to 24 degrees.
Emperor penguins hatch eggs for 100 days. hatched chick penguin weighs approximately 300 grams. All this time the baby is next to his parents. And only after five weeks the strengthened cub moves to the “children’s group”. In each colony there are individuals who are responsible for protecting the babies. Interestingly, when the parents return to feed the chicks, they immediately huge group find exactly what they want. live emperor penguins long enough - about 25 years.
Emperor penguins hunt in open ocean in groups, they swim straight into a school of fish and grab with their beaks any prey that comes their way: mainly fish and squid.
When you hear the word “Antarctica,” you immediately imagine endless expanses of snow and ice, snow-white plains under a dazzlingly bright blue sky. Its rich color is due to the extremely low temperatures prevailing in harsh land. It's hard to believe that life can exist among this icy silence. But it exists, imagine! Among the few representatives of the Arctic fauna, the emperor penguin takes pride of place. Amazing creature, the largest and most beautiful among the penguin family.
Habitat
The emperor penguin is listed in the Red Book. Today there are only about 300 thousand individuals of this species. This is negligible for the feathered family, so the majestic rare birds taken under state protection.
The bird prefers to live southern regions Antarctica, drifting on ice floes in northern waters. And it comes ashore in mating season for mating and breeding. However, the process of hatching and raising babies takes most years, so we can say that penguins lead a sedentary lifestyle. The latest data from satellite observations indicate about 38 colonies of imperial birds.
A bright bird with an impressive appearance: description plus photos
The Emperor Penguin fully lives up to its name with its external splendor. To begin with, it should be said that this is a giant among penguin species. His height is up to 120 cm and weight over 40 kg impressive. There are larger specimens. Although females are smaller than males, they gain body weight up to 30 kg, but still general impression this does not change the corpulence of the birds.
The back and wings of penguins are jet black, although there is a bluish-gray camouflage mantle on the back over the main plumage. The snow-white belly and front of the paws contrast with the black color.
The slightly yellowish tint of the belly turns into a soft yellow palette on the throat and frankly sunny in the area around the sides of the head. There are no differences in color based on gender. Emperor penguin babies initially look like little white fluffy balls with a gray belly and a black cap.
It was not for nothing that nature gave such a color to the magnificent bird; it protected it from attacks by predators in the water, making it as inconspicuous as possible. Penguins have very developed and strong muscles. Although they cannot fly, they are expert swimmers. To ultra-low temperatures, snow storms with the piercing wind, the icy water of the ocean did not become an obstacle to the life of the imperial handsome man, he acquired the appropriate natural conditions functions and structure of the body:
- small head and limbs;
- very thick subcutaneous fat layer;
- hard short, extremely dense feather;
- streamlined body;
- wing in the form of flippers.
This is all designed to minimize heat loss and maintain waterproofing as water runs down the feathers without being absorbed into them. The structure of the skeleton and the shape of the body indicate that the bird is an excellent swimmer and diver.
Group hunting rules and diet
The land of the Arctic, chained in permafrost, is completely inhospitable to its inhabitants, and one cannot expect generous gifts from it. Why, you can’t even find meager food under meter-thick layers of snow. Therefore, everyone living in the harsh northern regions looks for food in sea waters.
The emperor penguin prefers to forage for food in groups. The bird population, like an aggressor, bursts into a school of fish, causing terror and chaos, and simply grabs everything that is within reach. The birds swallow small prey directly under water, and larger trophies are pulled ashore or onto the nearest ice floe and there they are torn into small pieces and eaten.
Penguins' speed of movement in water is not too high - up to 6 km/h. But as a diver, the imperial representative of the penguin species is an undoubted leader. In good light depths of the sea he is capable of diving below 30 mand stay under water for more than a quarter of an hour. Rays penetrating through the water column directly affect the depth of the dive, because the landmark for birds is their vision, and in the dark there will be no sense in diving, all the prey will calmly swim past.
Most of the day is spent on obtaining food. In addition to fish, the diet includes squid, krill from the crustacean family, mollusks and cephalopods.
Rules of survival and features of life
Society for emperor penguins is a natural state. They live in colonies of up to 1000 animals. To live on land, they choose places sheltered from the piercing arctic winds: huge ice growths, cliffs, hummocks. To keep warm, birds group together in large flocks, periodically changing places, the extreme ones move to the center and vice versa. After all, in the middle of a huge bird lump it’s not just warm, it’s even hot. There is justice among bird communities.
Emperor penguin roosts must be near open waters in order to hunt. Watching birds as they move is very interesting. They do this not on their two legs, but by sliding on their belly and pushing off with their paws and wings, like oars.
Breeding offspring
Maintaining the duration of the genus takes most of the year for imperial birds. It takes birds only a couple of months to hunt; the rest of the time is taken up by parental responsibilities. Which, by the way, is performed with equal responsibility by both females and males.
The penguin chose a very unfavorable time to breed its offspring - May-June. This annual period is extremely characteristic low temperatures(below -50C) and raging winds (up to 200 km/h). It’s not particularly reasonable, but hunting, as they say, is worse than captivity. Due to harsh climatic conditions, the heirs grow slowly and are constantly exposed to danger from the weather.
To lay eggs, the emperor penguin, like any bird, makes a nest. Of course, in icy desert You can’t find branches, sticks, or even moss for this. But secluded corners away from the wind and water in a rock crevice are perfect. Or even just a depression at its foot. The bird lines its nest with stones, which, due to their scarcity, environment not that much either. The cunning fathers found a solution that was not very honest, but had a reliable effect on the females. They secretly steal stones from their relatives, demonstrating all their homeliness and desire to bring everything into the family.
“Kindergartens” for raising offspring prefer to be established in coastal ice. A very smart decision. Not every predator will want to cross icy waters to feast on eggs or young birds. That's just for the white polar bear sea waters nothing, but fortunately this does not happen too often. If a breeding colony is created on the mainland, then it will be the quietest, warm place near the rocks, protected from the wind.
6 weeks after mating, the female will lay only one egg and leave it in the care of her father. She will go off to feed on her own and will be absent for about 3 months. All this time, the male will warm the future cub under a fold of skin on the abdomen. During incubation, he loses almost half his weight, but will never abandon the egg until the mother returns. The baby penguin's weight at birth is about 0.5 kg. He usually appears when the mother arrives. If this happens earlier, the father feeds the newborn with juice from a special gastric gland.
The emerging chick is first fed by the mother with the semi-digested fish she has caught, and then both parents do the same. At two months, the babies crowd into the nursery, forming flocks, and by the end of summer, the parents stop supplying the children with provisions, and they begin to live independently.
After the chicks acquire adult status, the flock of penguins leaves the breeding site back to the sea. But before that they molt. The process of changing plumage is difficult for a bird to endure. She doesn't eat, doesn't move much, and is losing a lot of weight.
Interesting facts about the emperor penguin
- The bird was first described by a participant in an Arctic expedition led by Bellingshausen back in the 19th century. And only a century later, researcher Scott studied the penguin in more detail and seriously on a trip to Antarctica.
- Watching penguins is a very difficult task. The birds are so timid that when people approach, they abandon not only their egg clutches, but also their helpless chicks and run away.
- During the raising of offspring, up to 35% of the young die from attacks by predators. Birds (Antarctic skuas and giant petrels) and mammals (leopard seals and killer whales) are to blame.
- Despite their low birth weight, baby penguins are very voracious. A growing chick can eat 6 kg at a timebrought food. Parents are scrambling to feed their growing child.
- The life expectancy of the emperor penguin is high, given the extremely harsh living conditions - 25 years. They survive well in captivity and even reproduce.
Video "Life of Imperial Penguin Families"
Total known 16 various types penguins living in modern world. Each species belongs to a larger group of closely related species, comprising 6 genera.
The Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes Forsteri) is the largest living penguin when stretched to full height, then the size reaches 1.1 meters in height, males are even taller, up to 1.3 meters. Average weight its 36.7 kg (males), 28.4 kg (females). This penguin differs from the smaller King penguins (it also belongs to the genus Aptenodytes) not only in its large stature, but also in its bib - a wide pale yellow stripe that stretches between the orange-yellow ear and the pale yellow top part breasts Juveniles resemble adults in appearance, but are smaller and have a white rather than black chin, and whitish feathers around the ear, which turn yellow as they mature.
The emperor penguin is a bird of extremes in almost everything. It nests during the coldest months, during the Antarctic winter from March to December. They carry eggs and newborn chicks on their paws to prevent them from coming into contact with ice. Nests are not built, which allows all the birds of the colony to move, and during strong winds and frost, huddled in a group, closer friend to a friend, provide some protection from the cold.
In the case of the emperor penguin, the male is solely responsible for the two-month incubation period of the egg, and this occurs in the most severe frost, in the middle of the Arctic winter, in almost continuous darkness. The female feeds at this time. If the female does not return by the time the young are born, then the male is still able to feed the chick for a short time - with “milk” that regurgitates from the esophagus.
Little is known about the post-breeding period of these penguins during migration. Adults are known to stay close to the ice around Antarctica for most of their lives. Even young people, who were equipped with satellite transmitters, did not clarify anything in this regard. However, the researchers found that the penguins migrated north to the polar front. The vagrants visited the South Shetland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, the South Sandwich Islands, Kerguelen, Heard, and New Zealand.
The emperor penguin was discovered by the Bellingshausen expedition of 1819-1822. A significant contribution to the study of the emperor penguin was made by Robert Scott's Antarctic expedition of 1910-1913. when the group is from three people(including Adrian Wilson) went from a base at Cape Evans in McMurdo Sound to Cape Crozier, where they obtained several penguin eggs, which were important for the study embryonic period development of these birds.
Read more about all types of these amazing creatures You can find out in the topic “Penguins are unusual birds”, this same post is entirely dedicated to the Emperor penguin. The emperor penguin is the largest of the penguins. When the emperor penguin stands hunched over on land, its height is approximately 90 cm, but when it is alert and moving, it is 110-120 cm. The weight of the emperor penguin is 20-45 kg. The dorsal side of the emperor penguin is dark, grayish-blue, and on the head this color turns black. There are round yellowish-orange spots near the ears, moving to the underside of the neck and gradually fading to nothing on the chest. Emperor penguin chicks are covered with long, white or grayish-white down; the top of the head and the vertical strip separating the cheeks from the back of the head are brownish-black.
Unlike all other penguins, the emperor's nesting activities occur at the earliest harsh time years in Antarctica - winter. At the end of the Antarctic summer, i.e. at the beginning of March, the first emperor penguins appear on the ice. At first they behave highest degree passive: stand motionless, stooping and pulling their head into their shoulders. As fast ice gets thicker and covers everything large area, the number of emperor penguins increases and reaches 5 and even 10 thousand. Pairs begin to form in April. The male moves from place to place and makes loud, peculiar sounds. After waiting for some time, he moves again and screams again. This can last for several hours, and sometimes for several days. Finally, a female emperor penguin responds to the male's voice and a pair is formed. From this time on, the male and female stay together, but quite a lot of time passes, about 25 days, before an egg is laid, the only one during the breeding season.
The female holds the egg on her paws for some time, covering it with a special fold of skin on the underside of her abdomen. After a few hours it is transferred to the male, who also holds it on his paws. After this, the females, one after another, sometimes alone, more often in groups of 3-4 birds, go to sea. This continues throughout May. Some males turn out to be “selfish”; they do not accept eggs from the female and run away from her to the sea. Sometimes a male emperor penguin walks to the sea holding an egg on his paws. Eventually, such an egg rolls out and dies. However, most males jealously guard the egg, move very little, and often gather in dense heaps. And all this time they are hungry, at times; They only “eat” snow. Males arrive at nesting sites well-fed, with a thick layer of fat, which is especially developed on the belly. But during incubation, all this fat reserve (about 5-6 kg) is consumed. Penguins lose up to 40% of their weight, lose a lot of weight, their plumage becomes dirty, completely losing its original shine and silkiness.
This goes on for about two months, and when the time for the chicks to hatch approaches, at the end of July, well-fed and fat females begin to arrive from the sea. The return of females continues throughout the month, and each of them finds her male by voice. Having been hungry for four months, the male emperor penguin hastily gives the egg to his girlfriend and hurries to the sea, the open surface of which is now very far from the nesting sites. It happens that some female emperor penguins are late, and the chick hatches without them. Such chicks often die before their mother arrives from the sea. The process of hatching an emperor penguin chick takes two days, and at first the weak chick, which does not yet have a downy covering, continues to sit on the female’s paws, covered by her abdominal “pouch.”
In the entire colony, hatching lasts about a month. Well-fed males return in September. Using vocal signals, they find their females and begin to feed the chicks. The life of the nesting colony does not go smoothly. The polar night, terrible cold, and hurricane-force winds sometimes force birds to cluster in dense heaps. Often the eggs are lost. Sometimes immature, younger male emperor penguins steal eggs from their neighbors, and later, when the chicks begin to move away from their parents, fights break out over them. Single males each pull a chick towards themselves; the chick, like a soccer ball, rolls from one adult penguin to another, gets bruised and wounded, and eventually dies. Chicks also die from skuas. At the end of November, in the summer, adult birds moult. Emperor penguins at this time are on land, if possible, in a place protected from the wind. For each individual, molting lasts 20 days, and the birds fast during this time.
Emperor penguins have few enemies, and the natural age of these birds can be up to 25 years.
The only predators that kill adult emperor penguins in or near water are killer whales and leopard seals. On ice floes it sometimes happens that emperor penguin chicks become prey to skuas or giant petrels. It comes from the latter greatest danger, as it causes the death of up to a third of emperor penguin chicks. These birds pose no danger to adults.
Squad - Penguin-like
Family - Penguins
Genus/Species - Aptenodytes forsteri
Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Emperor penguin height: 112 cm.
Emperor penguin weight: 20-40 kg.
REPRODUCTION
Puberty: from 3-6 years.
Nesting period: usually from March to December.
Carrying: 1 per season.
Number of eggs: 1.
Incubation: 64-100 days.
LIFESTYLE
Habits: social birds; keep in colonies that number from 500 to 20,000 pairs.
Food: fish, cuttlefish, crustaceans.
Lifespan: 20 years.
RELATED SPECIES
The emperor penguin's closest relative is Aptenodytes pathogonica. It is smaller than the imperial one, and its plumage is slightly brighter.
An emperor penguin waddling or paddling across the ice is a fun sight to see. However, these birds have perfectly adapted to life in aquatic environment; here they have no equal. Due to the slow development of their chicks, emperor penguins nest in the depths of the Arctic winter.
ENEMIES AND FOOD
Antarctica is home to approximately 150,000 emperor penguins. Only a few animals can survive in these harsh conditions, so penguins have few enemies. At sea or near the coast, only the killer whale is dangerous for adult penguins. On pack ice they are hunted by skuas, but they are dangerous primarily for chicks. About 3/4 of the chicks die from attacks by skuas. Skuas attack mainly single chicks, so the formation of a kind of “nursery” reduces the number of dead babies. Adult penguins feed on crustaceans sea fish and cephalopods.
WHERE THE EMPEROR PENGUIN LIVES
Emperor penguins live on pack ice off the coast of Antarctica and nearby seas. With their slowness, ceremony, and majesty, these birds justify their name. However, they do not live in imperial conditions at all. Not only do penguins constantly live in the very harsh conditions of Antarctica, but they also give birth to their children during the most difficult time of the year - winter. Emperor penguins have dark upper parts of their bodies and white lower parts. There are orange spots on the upper part of the neck. The chicks are covered with long white or grayish down.
REPRODUCTION
The nesting period of penguins begins in March and lasts 10 months. Scientists divide the stay of penguins on land into 6 stages. The first stage is the formation of a colony, when the penguins split into pairs. If the pair already existed last year, the spouses look for each other, and if the pair has not yet formed, the male looks for the female. He wanders among the flock and screams loudly from time to time. The female responds to his voice, and the acquaintance, and then the “matchmaking,” will take place here. The second stage is egg laying and incubation. A female emperor penguin lays one large egg. After a few hours, the females pass the eggs to the males, and they themselves go to sea to feed. The males continue the hunger strike and faithfully incubate the eggs - about 64-100 days. In case of bad weather, they plan to bask together. The third stage is the return of the females, the males leaving to feed and the chicks hatching. Females find males by voice and take eggs or hatched chicks under their care. If the chick hatches before the female appears, the male feeds it with “milk” (the secretion of a special gland). The female, returning, gives him a paste of krill and fish. The fourth stage is feeding the chicks. The fifth stage is the time of molting. It lasts up to 35 days. In mid-December, the colony disintegrates and the penguins go to sea - this is the sixth stage.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
To get to their Antarctic “pastures”, they have to walk up to 320 km through snowdrifts on snowy and icy rocks. When the sun is shining, they confidently follow their route, but on cloudy days they sometimes lose their way. Emperor penguins are the symbol of Antarctica. The height of the birds is up to 120 cm, weight 40-50 kg. Penguins cannot fly, but they swim and dive beautifully with the help of wings that have turned into flippers. Their legs are a kind of steering wheel and brake. They feed on fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. They live in colonies. On land they move “waddle”, but quite deftly. Penguins have a large layer of fat under their skin that protects the birds from the cold. At strong wind huddle together: together it’s not so cold. In winter, the female emperor penguin lays one egg weighing 450 g. After this, the female goes to the sea to feed. Now the male takes over the baton. He places the egg on his paws and covers it with a special bag - a fold of skin - so that it does not freeze. A newborn baby first warms itself on its father’s paws, and then is raised in a “nursery” along with the neighboring chicks.
FEATURES OF THE DEVICE
Nature has provided the emperor penguin with reliable means for survival in the harsh conditions of Antarctica. Warm plumage plays a significant role in this. The penguin has a dense body of feathers - about a dozen feathers grow per 1 cm2. Short and hard, with fluffy down at the base, the feathers overlap very closely and form an insulating layer of air. The body shape of the emperor penguin is also a peculiar adaptation that accumulates heat, since the surface area of the body, compared with growth, is small. In addition, there is a thick layer of fat under the skin. In the nasolacrimal ducts it also has developed special system heat exchange, due to which when exhaling it loses a small amount of heat. Front and hind limbs Emperor penguins retain heat as much as possible. In addition, the emperor penguin has a developed mechanism of social thermoregulation.
- The emperor penguin dives to a depth of 265 meters and spends 18 minutes underwater - a record among waterfowl.
- Male penguins do not feed during nesting from mid-March until June or July.
- Unlike the penguin, which has a specific area and protects it from its fellow tribesmen, the emperor penguin has low intraspecific aggressiveness.
- Emperor penguins have a developed instinct for social thermoregulation. In harsh seasons, birds gather in close groups, forming a so-called “turtle”.
- Emperor penguins are avid travelers. Some penguins create colonies at a distance of about 300 km from the coast.
UNDERWATER LIFE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN
The penguin cannot fly, and it also moves awkwardly on land. His element is water. In pursuit of prey, thanks to its torpedo-like body, the penguin moves freely in the water column.
With energetic beats of its wings, which are shaped like kayak oars, the emperor penguin moves under water, while its legs and tail serve as its rudder.
WHERE DOES IT LIVE?
The emperor penguin is the most Antarctic bird species; There are about 20 large colonies around the Antarctic coast.
PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION
The penguin lives in harsh climatic conditions; he has only one enemy - this leopard seal. Although the number of these birds today is about 150,000, their numbers are affected by pollution in Antarctica.
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