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Emperor Penguin

Aptenodytes forsteri · medium

The emperor penguin breeds in the Antarctic winter, which no other bird attempts. Adults walk inland across the sea ice as the sun disappears, and the female lays a single egg and returns to the sea to feed. The male takes it, balances it on his feet under a fold of abdominal skin, and stands through months of darkness and temperatures far below freezing without eating anything at all.

They survive it by huddling. Thousands of birds pack together, and the huddle moves constantly in slow waves that rotate individuals from the cold outer edge to the warm centre and back — a system that shares the burden rather than sacrificing the outermost birds.

The timing is not perverse. Hatching in winter means the chick is old enough to fledge when the sea ice breaks up and food is most abundant.

Emperors are also formidable divers, going deeper and staying under longer than any other bird, aided by solid rather than hollow bones and an ability to tolerate low blood oxygen.

The whole cycle depends on fast ice that holds firm for the full breeding season. Colonies have failed completely in years when it broke up early, which makes the species unusually exposed to a warming Southern Ocean.

Where it lives

Worml lists the emperor penguin as native to Antarctica. Its habitat is antarctic fast ice and surrounding ocean.

Ranges here are reduced to whole countries for playability and exclude introduced populations — see about the data for what that simplification leaves out.

In the game

Emperor Penguin is rated medium. To solve the round you need to name the single country it lives in. How scoring works →

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