Grades 3-5—Passage 1
Year of the Emperor
How would you like to grow
up on ice? Emperor penguin
chicks do. They’re raised in the
coldest place on earth.
Year of the
Emperor
● Emperor Penguin colonies
By Elen Lambeth
Photos by Frans Lanting
Brrr! You may wonder how anything could live in a land of ice and snow. But emperor penguins do.
Their home is at the very bottom of the world— in Antarctica (see map).
The land there is covered by a thick icy crust. In the middle of winter, it’s dark as night all day long.
Bitter winds blow, and temperatures drop 70° F below zero (-57° C). Even in summer, the temperature
almost never gets above freezing, and a blizzard is not out of the ordinary.
BACKWARD BIRDS
When you think of animals having babies, you probably think of spring or summer. But when you
think of emperor penguins, you’d better think again: They’re just the opposite. These birds start family
life in the fall, when the bitter winter is just around the corner.
At the bottom of the world, fall begins in March, just when we’re getting ready for spring. Days
become darker and colder. And the sea starts to freeze over, forming a huge sheet of ice for miles out
from land.
The penguins have been eating heartily in the ocean waters all summer, gobbling down krill (tiny
shrimp like creatures), squid, and fish. But now they march inland across the frozen sea—maybe more
than 100 miles (160 km).
Sooner or later the birds clump together in colonies, often by the thousands. Males and females
waddle and bow and sing to each other. Then they mate. Finally, as winter settles in around May or
June, the most incredible story begins.
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Grades 3-5—Passage 1
Year of the Emperor
DARK DEEP-FREEZE
Each female penguin lays a single egg. Very, very carefully, her mate pulls the egg onto his feet with
his bill. He quickly tucks it under a toasty-warm flap of bare skin-called a brood patch-on his belly. If the
egg stays on the ice or in the cold air very long, it will freeze. After the egg is safely handed over to Dad,
Mom makes the long trip back to the sea to fill up on food again. Dad is left behind, in total charge of the
fragile package cradled on his feet. He'll have to wait like that until Mom returns. And it's a wait that goes
on and on.
Think what it must be like for dear ol' Dad: It's dark all the time. He has nothing to eat. He can shuffle
around but can't really go anywhere. He's surrounded by ice and blowing snow. And he's stuck like this
for about two months. All he can do is keep that egg warm and huddle with the other dads to keep
himself warm. It has to be the world's worst babysitting job! It's a good thing the birds are built for it.
FIT, FAT, AND WELL FEATHERED
Although winter seems a crazy time to lay eggs, it works for emperors. For one thing, the birds are
still plump from feeding all summer. A thick layer of fat helps keep each bird warm through the winter.
Being big helps too. Emperors are the world's largest penguins. (An adult may stand 4 feet [1.2 m]about as tall as a 7 -year-old kid.) Usually, big animals don't lose heat as quickly as small ones. That
makes it easier for them to stay warm.
Emperors also wear the warmest coats around. Each bird's body is covered with tightly packed,
overlapping feathers-about 80 per square inch. These keep out the harsh wind and bitter-cold air.
(They also keep out icy water when the bird swims.) Underneath the feathers is a layer of soft, fluffy
down to hold in body heat.
CRA-A-ACK! THEY'RE HERE!
Finally, in the dead of winter (around July), the chicks pop out into their cold, dark world. Each
hatches with only a thin coat of fuzz. So it must stay in that warm spot on its dad's feet.
By now, the dads haven't eaten for about three months. They've been living off their own body fat and
may have already lost up to half their weight. They're more than ready for the moms to come back and
take over babysitting for a while.
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Grades 3-5—Passage 1
Year of the Emperor
“Have a seat on my feet,” this penguin parent seems to be saying. That keeps the little emperor off the
cold ice and close to its parent’s warm body.
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Grades 3-5—Passage 1
Year of the Emperor
Luckily, just about that time, the moms start returning with full bellies. Each chick moves over to its
mom’s feet, so its dad can head for a feast in the sea. Now and then, a chick peeks out and whistles for
food. Mom regurgitates (ree-GUR-jih-tates), or brings up, some partly digested stuff from her crop-a
food-storage place in her throat. The parents trade places more often now to tend their growing chick.
While one is off feeding at sea, the other is keeping the baby warm and well fed. The parents form long
lines going back and forth across the frozen sea to reach open water-and to find food.
These emperor parents bow their heads toward their chick. Baby is now big enough—and fuzzy
enough—to survive out in the open. No more sitting around on Mom's or Dad's feet!
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Grades 3-5—Passage 1
Year of the Emperor
GROW UP, FUZZBALL!
By September, it's starting to look and feel like springtime. The days stay light longer. The sun warms
the air up a bit. The emperor chicks have put on a thicker, fluffier coat, so they don't have to sit on their
parents' feet anymore. They were getting too big for that anyway! Pretty soon, they're old enough to be
left alone between feedings. While both parents are off getting food, the chicks gather in a big group
called a creche (KRESH). You might think it would be hard for a penguin parent to find its chick in a
crowd of look- alikes. But each parent knows the sound of its own chick's call. And the chick knows both
parents' calls too. That's how they get together after the parents come back from their fishing trips. They
keep calling and listening until they finally find each other.
TRICKY TIMING
The chicks hatch at the coldest time of the year, which means they're ready to hit the water at the
warmest time of the year. That's when the frozen sea- where the birds have been living since winter-is
breaking up and melting away. It's also when they will be able to find the most food.
So, around January or February, the chicks head to the water's edge all on their own.
No one shows them where to go. No one shows them how to swim, catch a meal, or avoid enemies.
They just fend for themselves as best they can. Life in the sea can be dangerous. Hungry leopard
seals—or sometimes killer whales—gobble up many young penguins. If its luck holds out, a chick will
someday start an emperor family of its own. But not for a few more years. There's plenty of time to finish
growing up in the coldest spot on Earth!
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