Antarctica, bitter cold and Penguin are inseparable. Penguins are flightless birds that walk in vertical posture like humans on the ground and swim like a fish in the water with flippers and feet. Penguins live in groups and are adapted to extreme cold conditions.
In penguins sex recognition is difficult. Both the male and the female look alike. To recognize a female, the male places a pebble at the feet of another penguin. If the second bird happens to be male, the encounter erupts into a conflict. If the second bird is female, she will invite the male. The pair goes through courtship rituals of bowing to each other, stretching their beaks upward, trumpeting, and neck twining and finally mating. Penguins make long-term pair bonds.
Adelie penguins build simple ground nests, using small stones placed on the frozen Antarctic ground. The stones protect the eggs from being buried by the snow during a blizzard. Penguins lay a single egg and put all their efforts to see that the egg hatches and grows into a healthy offspring.
The female Emperor penguin lays her egg on the frozen ground. She passes the egg to her mate who immediately shifts the egg on to his feet and sinks his furry body over the egg completely protecting it from the freezing cold. The female sets off across the ice on her way to the open see to feed.
Incubating the egg is complete responsibility of the male Emperor penguin. The egg is held on his webbed feet enveloped within a fold of belly skin. The father penguin remains in this position for eight to nine weeks. While the outside temperature falls below minus 32 degrees F, the inside temperature of the egg is maintained at 93 degrees F. The father penguin uses his fat reserves to maintain himself and incubate the egg until the young one hatch out. The well nourished mother penguin returns now to relieve the father and take care of the young.
Once the young penguins are mature enough to walk, they all gather huddled, surrounded by a fence made by the parent penguins that use their large bodies to block the freezing winds of the Antarctica. By huddling together, the colony can raise the temperature at the center by 20 degrees F.
Recognition between parent and its chick plays an important role in the protection and survival of the chicks. Adult Adelie penguins returning from the sea with food call to their young. The young on the shore go running calling back to parents. Once they get close, both the parent and the chick engage in a mutual calling display in which the chicks are able to find their right parents. Chicks that approach wrong parents are driven away. Similarly chicks do not approach silent adults. The parent ensures that it will feed only its own chick.
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