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Emperor Penguins
 | Picture:Adult Emperor Penguin Just Back from the Sea. Auster Penguin Colony. 1 Jan 1999.(This Colony was named after the Auster aircraft which first spotted them).
The emperor penguin is the largest of the modern species of penguin at 44inches tall, 44 kg in weight. It has a black beak with and orange slash and black head and orange and yellow markings at the top of the head and at the top of the chest. Emperors lay one egg, which the males incubate by holding it on top of their feet.
Their Latin name is Aptenodytes forsteri, called after J.R.Forster a naturalist who sailed with Capt Cook on his southern ocean voyage.
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Colonies on Sea Ice
 | Picture:Emperor penguins breeding on the sea iceat the base of grounded icebergs. Auster penguin rookery.1 Jan 1999. It was disconcerting to see areas of water where we were walking, though we were told there was another layer of ice a few feet below the surface. However it was quite scary to see a seal that had been on the ice in front of me suddenly disappear down a hole in the ice!
Emperors have the most punishing breeding cycle of all penguins. In March to April Emperors travel south to their traditional rookeries, usually on the sea ice but occasionally on shingle beaches. By the end of April the colonies have assembled and courtship starts. |
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Colonies Amidst Icebergs
 | Picture:The Auster Colony. 1 Jan 1999. Not really a sustainable number of birds considering the perils and uncertainties they face. I was on tenterhooks that there would be enough there for us to see as our captain said there was a possibility they might have gone.
They mate with their partners of previous seasons. In mid winter, after starving for 2 months, June to July, the female lays one greenish white egg with a chalky surface, weighing about 450gm at which time she will have lost about 20% of her body weight. All the eggs in the rookery are laid within 2-4 weeks of each other and may be laid in temperatures of 50 degrees below zero. |
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Tobogganing penguins
 | Picture: An Emperor penguin tobogganing over the rough sea ice, pushing with its back flippers. Auster rookery. 1 Jan 1999.
As soon as the egg is laid the male takes the egg on top of his feet and a slit opens at the bottom of the penguin’s stomach near the feet so that the egg can be in contact with the warm skin. A flap of skin and feathers then covers it. The female then leaves, waddling or tobogganing over the sea ice to the open sea where she feeds for 2 months. |
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Fledging Chicks
 | Picture:Emperor chicks awaiting the fledge and return of their parents to feed them. If the sea ice were to melt too early due to global warming they would not be waterproof and would die. Auster penguin colony 1 Jan 1999.
The male starves for about 4 months till the female returns to feed the chick. During this time he has no food, no water and may not see the sun for 4 months and loses 35-45% of his body weight. The temperature may fall as low as minus 70 degrees centigrade. He then returns to the sea to feed and returns again in 3 or 4 weeks with a full stomach to feed the chick. Emperors feed in the pack ice eating predominantly squid which accounts for the greenish poo around the colonies. Fish and squid may be caught as deep as one mile under the sea. |
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Chicks Waiting Patiently
 | Picture:Chicks fledging.Auster penguin colony. 1 Jan 1999.Two look well on the way to a successful fledge but one looks rather thin. There are many casualties due to starvation or cold and wet.
During the starvation period the male depends on the food reserves in his body, mostly fat in the abdomen and under the skin. During peak winter the males huddle together in a pack shuffling about with the eggs on their feet taking their turn on the edge or the centre of the colony. The female is expected to return at the time the chick hatches but if the female is late there is a small amount of yolk remaining in the chick’s stomach to sustain it. The males can also feed a regurgitated meal of fat and protein from its crop (oesophageal secretion) even if he may have lost up to 45% of his body weight during his fast. |
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Feeding the Chick
 | Picture: A moulting emperor chick being fed by a parent. Auster penguin rookery. 1 Jan 1999.
When the male returns again,both birds alternate in feeding till the chick fledges at 5-6 months.
The parents trudge back and forward to the sea for food and despite the break up of the sea ice making the sea nearer they may still have miles and miles to trek. In January 1999 when we visited the Auster emperor rookery it took us 20 minutes by helicopter from the ship to reach the site. From the helicopter it seemed so sad to see those little figures trudging miles and miles between the colony and the sea.
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March Of The Penguins Over Miles & Miles Of Rough Ice
 | Picture: Emperor parents walk or toboggan up to 200 km to reach their colonies on the sea ice and feed their chicks. Auster penguin colony. 1 Jan 1999.
They may have to trudge 200km to reach their colonies. The frozen sea was very hard, bumpy and difficult to walk on for us so the penguins do not have the smooth easy surface you might imagine. By late October the chicks eat the equivalent of one third of their body weight every 2nd or 3rd day.
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Winner of Most Beautiful Baby Contest
 | Picture:all penguins are cute, all penguins chicks are cuter but the emperor chicks are the cutest of all. This one looked quite plump but a while away from fledging. Hope he made it! Auster Emperor penguin colony. 1 Jan 1999.
To me the emperor chicks with their black eyes, black caps, bills and feet, white faces and grey fluffy bodies would easily win the most beautiful baby in Antarctica competition. They also had a really sweet trill, which reminded me of a robin’s song. |
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An Emperors Creche
 | Picture: Emperor chicks in a creche in various stages of moult, one making its characteristic sweet call. Auster emperor colony. 1 Jan 1999.
When the male returns again,both birds alternate in feeding till the chick fledges at 5-6 months.
The parents trudge back and forward to the sea for food and despite the break up of the sea ice making the sea nearer they may still have miles and miles to trek. In January 1999 when we visited the Auster emperor rookery it took us 20 minutes by helicopter from the ship to reach the site. From the helicopter it seemed so sad to see those little figures trudging miles and miles between the colony and the sea.
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No Penguin Happy Feet For These Little Chicks
 | Picture: A Little Creche of Emperor Chicks Wends its Weary Long Trek to the Sea Edge to Finish Fledging and Maybe Meet a Parent on the Way Back with Needed Sustenance.Auster Emperor Rookery. 1 Jan 1999.
As the chicks start to fledge and loose their fluffy down they move into creches and later start to move as a group towards the sea. Unitil they have fledged they are not waterproof and would drown if they went into the sea. This happens if the sea ice melts before they are fledged. They also need to preen using their oil gland to waterproof their feathers. Very much under threat they are sad little birds |
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A Tragic Loss
 | Picture: Chick (and parent) mortality is too high. If continued human fishing upsets the krill balance there will be insufficient food for both with tragic consequences. Flutter emperor colony. 3 Jan 1999.
Chick and egg mortality rate is high about 30% due to shortage of food, climate warming causing early ice break up, giant petrels and skuas taking eggs and chicks and leopard seals and orcas killing the adults at sea. In fact less thank 20% of chicks survive their first year. The continuing survival of the emperors is precarious especially since european and far eastern nations having fished out other oceans are increasingly turning their attention to the Antarctic.
Emperor penguins can live for 20 years or more and dive for 250 m staying down for 18 minutes. They usually fish in Antarctica but can range as far as New Zealand or South America. |
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