The Incubation of the emperor penguin Lasts from 62 to 67 days. They are the only animals that breed during the Antarctic winter.
The female lays a single egg that is incubated exclusively by the male. The male retains it on its legs covering it with a kind of fold that it has in the lower part of its abdomen.
Emperor penguins are the largest and heaviest among all species of penguins. They can measure about 112 cm high and weigh up to 41 kilos.
Compared to other birds, emperor penguins are the ones that can dive deeper into the sea.
Some scientists have been able to record, by means of special devices, immersed of more than 500 m of depth realized by these animals.
The ability of emperor penguins to remain submerged is due, as in other penguins, to their bones being heavier than those of flying birds. These allow them to remain submerged while exploring the seafloor for food.
Incubation of the emperor penguin
The laying, incubation and breeding of emperor penguins occurs on permanent ice. They spend about 10 months in this place. They arrive there in the month of March and immediately begin the procession to find a partner.
Courtship
The most important behavioral patterns during pairing are the courtship song and a kind of dance in which the members of the couple stand facing each other and stretch their necks back pointed with their peaks towards the sky.
The courtship song consists of a series of sounds that emit the penguins during this process and that will allow them to identify later.
The search for a partner lasts from several hours to a few days and copulation takes place from mid-April to early June. It is particularly frequent between the 20 and 25 of April.
The union between couples is usually permanent. In a study conducted during the incubation and rearing period, it was detected that only 5 of 73 identified pairs were separated.
Egg laying
The female puts a single egg weighing 450 grams between May 1 and June 12. At the moment of egg laying, the male issues the"courtship song"and the female frequently joins it.
Before the female passes the egg to the male for incubation, both perform the singing and the courtship dance. The male rolls the egg with his beak on his feet and covers it with a special fold that he has in his abdomen.
Egg Incubation
The female returns to the sea to feed and leaves all the task of incubation by the male. Almost all females leave the nest in May.
By that time, the females have been without food for 45 days. In that period they lose 17-38% of their body weight.
The male remains standing with the egg on its paws for 2 months. Thanks to the protection provided by the legs and abdominal fold, the egg is kept at the appropriate temperature for the development of the embryo (34.4 ° C).
As the incubation period occurs during the Antarctic winter season, males are united in large groups crowded side by side to maintain their own body heat and withstand strong winter winds.
This thermoregulation behavior is extremely important for survival in the extreme and dark winter of the Antarctic where the temperature drops to about -20.3 ° C on average and winds of approximately 9.9 m per second are recorded.
During the incubation period, the male Emperor penguin remains without eating surviving its fat stores.
Chick Birth And food
From the moment the male arrives at the breeding site until the female returns after the chick's birth, the male remains has not eaten for four and a half months. Because of this, the male loses 50% of his body weight.
If the chick is born before the return of the mother, her father feeds it with a discharge that comes out of its crop, which is a digestive organ that stores food before being processed.
When the mother returns, she is in charge of feeding the chick with reserves of fish that she brings in her buche. The male then begins his journey back to the sea to feed.
The chicks are born in July. Initially they do not have neck down feathers. This facilitates the transfer of heat from the father to his son, who remains inside the"bag"of his parents and just peers the head.
Initially the mother is in charge of feeding the baby while the male is After the return of this, they take turns feeding the baby.
The chick stays in her parents' bag for a month and a half. From the beginning of September until December they live in"day care centers", while their parents are looking for food. Adults recognize their young by their voices.
At birth, they learn the sounds that will allow them to recognize and be recognized by their parents. This"song"id remains unchanged for up to 5 months.
Independence of young penguins
When summer comes, young penguins have grown enough to feed themselves.
By this time, the ice sheets have melted and the sea is closer to the breeding place of the penguins. Therefore, young people do not have to travel as far as their parents to get food.
Other features of the emperor penguin
The Emperor Penguin ( Aptenodytes forsteri ) Exhibits many behavioral and morphological characteristics that allow it to adapt to the extreme cold that they must face especially in the stage of incubation of their eggs.
ID
He has two patches at the level of yellow-orange ears that are joined by a pale yellow stripe that extends across the top of his chest.
Young birds look like adults but they are smaller and have more white than black on the chin. The patches on the ears are whitish and turn yellow with age.
Distribution
During the breeding season, the emperor penguins are distributed in approximately 30 colonies located in the southern part of the Antarctic continent, usually in permanent ice. During this period, they rely heavily on pollinias (open water areas surrounded by sea ice).
They live in non-territorial colonies. In fact, they form in groups crowded to withstand the cold and winds of the Antarctic winter.
After the breeding period, the adults remain in the permanent ice zone, while the young penguins move north, located in the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and Tierra del Fuego.
Diet
They feed on fish, cephalopods and krill to a greater or lesser extent, although the first two are the main components of their diet.
Conservation and status
Currently, the status of penguins on the subject of conservation is low risk and their population is considered stable. The last registered census of its population showed the number of about 218,000 pairs.
References
- Davis, L and Renner, M. (2010). The Penguins. London (UK): T & A.D. Poyser. Retrieved from books.google.co.ve.
- Markle, S. (2006). A mother's Journey. Watertowa, USA: Charlesbridge. Retrieved from books.google.co.ve.
- Karleskint, G. Turner, R and Small, J (2010). Introduction to Marine Biology. Belmont, USA: Cengage Learning. Retrieved from books.google.co.ve.
- Müller, D. (1984). The Behavior of Penguins: Adapted to Ice and Tropics. Albany, USA: State University of New York Press. Retrieved from books.google.co.ve.