Common Name: Emperor Penguin. Scientific Name: Aptenodytes forsteri. Type: Birds. Diet: Carnivore. Group Name: Colony. Size: 45 inches. Weight: Up to 88 pounds. Size relative to a 6-ft man:. Near threatened. Least Concern Extinct. Current Population Trend: Stable. This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our photo community on Instagram.
Follow us on Instagram at natgeoyourshot or visit us at natgeo. Share Tweet Email. Go Further. Tax ID: Emperors are the largest of all penguins.
Join now. The youngsters are beginning to grow real feathers and they start shedding their down. At this time of year, the number of adults in the colony gets smaller and smaller. Parents that lost their chick, adults that missed out on breeding and adults that are not ready to reproduce yet, tend to go out to sea at this time to start fattening up for their annual moult.
Parents still feeding chicks have to make a decision as to how long they are going to continue to look after the little one. If they leave the chick too early and it has not got enough energy reserves to finish the moult it will die and the parents have wasted an entire breeding season. However, if they continue feeding the chick for too long, they may compromise their own ability to feed and fatten up for their moult.
Adults have to almost double their body mass before the moult. When they start shedding their old feathers their plumage is no longer waterproof and they cannot go to sea and feed. So for the month that it takes to replace the old feathers they depend solely on the body fat that they accumulate after leaving their chick and before they start to moult.
It is not necessary for the penguins to return to the colony to grow their new plumage. While some birds do return, others travel great distances and find themselves a place where they can sit on the ice and moult. As long as they can stay out of the water it does not matter where they haul out. Replacing every single feather is energetically very expensive. By the time the new plumage has grown the penguins have lost nearly half their body mass.
By laying in the winter, the penguins avoid exposing their young to a winter for as long as possible. Another point to consider: As you said, Antartica is largely devoid of other life during the winter. To me, what I hear is: There will be no predators to feed on the eggs, or attack the vulnerable penguins incubating their eggs. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.
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