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Incredible pictures of newborn Emperor penguins to warm your heart
Last updated at 15:52pm on 05.01.07
Fancy a bite? An adult Emperor penguin lets her chick get away with a playful peck
Nestling close under their mothers' wings and slipping playfully on the dense ice of Antarctica, it is easy to see why we have such a love affair with penguins.
The tiny chicks pictured here with their parents — some just a few days old — were born at the world's most northerly penguin colony, Snow Hill Island by the Weddell Sea.
Want to see more? Check out our gallery of penguin chicks
Each year 4,000 pairs of Emperor penguins — the largest of the species, standing at nearly 4ft tall — make the annual march to this historic breeding ground to mate.
Just like in the award-winning documentary March Of The Penguins, the surprise hit movie of 2005, or the recent cartoon Happy Feet, these images taken by photographer David Tipling chronicle the incredible acts of selflessness in which adult penguins risk their own lives to nurture their young in the harshest climate on Earth, where temperatures can fall as low as minus 140f (minus 96c).
Every March, when winter arrives, the Emperors leave the sea and begin the 70-mile walk to the breeding ground. After a gruelling march of several weeks, the birds arrive, pair off and mate in an elegant courtship — the pain of their journey long forgotten.
If they are successful, the female will lay a single egg and leave to find food. Before she goes, she delicately transfers the egg to the male, where he nestles it in his brood pouch (resting on his feet, just below his belly). The transfer is an intricate process and many young birds lose their eggs — just a few seconds on the ice can kill the embryo inside.
For the successful females, they must return to the ocean to feed and replace the third of bodyweight they used to make their eggs. While she is away, the male cocoons the egg, protecting it for around 125 days until it hatches.
In the process, he loses half his bodyweight and can walk to the ocean for food only after his partner has returned. By December, when summer arrives, the chicks are confident enough to foray into the sea themselves — the products of a true labour of love.
