Stunning image snaps Emperor penguin ‘chick creche’ in Antarctica
Emperor penguins are the only penguin that breeds during Antarctica’s harsh winter. Unreal images of these year’s chicks have emerged. Check out the photos >>
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Gazing up at its parent from beneath their fluffy feathers a young Emperor penguin has been snapped sharing an intimate family moment on the world’s coldest continent.
Emperor penguins are the world’s largest penguin species and the only ones that breed in the Antarctic winter, when temperatures regularly drop as low as minus 34.
The Auster colony is located about 50 km from Mawson Research Station, and is home to thousands of emperor penguins at this time of year.
Once the chicks begin hatching the colony forms a “chick creche” and both parents take on “chick duty” after the long incubation of the egg by the male penguin.
It won’t be till December that the chicks fledge and start taking their first tentative steps towards an ocean swim.
Auster colony is a key site used by the Australian Antarctic Science Program for long term monitoring of emperor penguins.
Scientists studying the birds have built up long term records of the size and composition of the colony and are monitoring how it responds to changes in the local environment, and in particular to changes in sea ice.
AAD seabird ecologist Dr Barbara Wienecke said the most significant threat for emperor penguins is climate change, because the vast majority of colonies are located on the Antarctic sea ice.
“Emperor penguins depend on the sea ice for their long-term survival. Without a breeding platform they have nowhere to go, and it is crucial that this ice platform is available for the duration of the breeding period,” said Dr Wienecke.
“If global warming alters the patterns of ice breakout or stability, the ice may disappear before the chicks are ready to go to sea.”
Originally published as Stunning image snaps Emperor penguin ‘chick creche’ in Antarctica
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