Wikibooks: Animal Behavior/Penguin Loving

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; Bowles; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Aptenodytes forsteri; Emperor penguins
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Animal_Behavior/Penguin_Loving

= PENGUIN LOVING = Compared with other birds emperor penguins have everything backwards. They breed in winter the females compete for the males and they’re notoriously unfaithful. They’re the most bizarre birds I’ve ever met. Ann Bowles in the article “Emperors of the Ice. Emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri are the largest of the penguin family. They live in harsh environments of the Antarctic battered by extreme weather conditions and vicious predators and are the only warm blooded animal to winter on the open ice. It is therefore no surprise that these birds present unique behaviors. The mating and brooding habits of these penguins reflect how these penguins have adapted to overcome these formidable obstacles. Unlike other cohabitants of the Antarctic Circle emperor penguins mate in the winter months of April and May. Males grow yellow tufts in the areas surrounding their ears suspected of being an attraction factor for females. Unlike other species’ males that compete for nesting space and attract the females through quaint rituals (e.g. Adele penguin males throw scarcely available rocks at the feet of females to “get their attention”) emperor penguins do not create nest and put on mating displays that last for weeks during which the future parents learn each other’s call. After copulation and about 15 days later the laying of a single soft ball sized egg the female leaves to the sea where she embarks on a mission to feed well. Meanwhile the father cares for the egg. To protect it from the frosty floor for the next 6–8 weeks the father balances the egg on its two feet under the protective blubbery flaps of its underbelly to keep it warm. During the whole incubation period the father does not eat and may lose a third to half of its body weight. The mother returns right before hatching (usually at the beginning of September) well fed and with food for her offspring. The two parents apparently find themselves through distinguishable calls. Visual aids are useless in a crowd of 6000 penguins ...