Happy Families

Emperor penguins are perfectly adapted to thrive in the extreme conditions of Antarctica, one of the Earth’s most remote places. These intimate portraits show the challenges they overcome to live their lives and raise their young.

This touching image demonstrates the adult emperor penguins’ e orts to raise their single chick in the Gould Bay colony in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. The adult has returned from feeding at sea and prepares to regurgitate a meal of fish, krill or squid to its hungry o spring, after homing in on the chick’s unique call and frequent, plaintive entreaties for food.

RIGHT These birds have strong and sturdy feet, with large, gripping claws to help propel them across the ice. To ensure their feet don’t freeze, the penguins’ blood vessels are arranged so that there is a counter-current heat exchange between warm and cold blood.

BELOW Emperor penguins and their young, of six to eight weeks old, at Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea – the most northerly colony. The chicks don’t have the dense feather layers of adults, but they have downy insulation, and huddle together when they need to.

ABOVE The penguins get ready to enter the water. They will usually walk up to 100km to feed, so when a lead (or crack) opens up in the sea ice, penguins will use it as a shortcut, so they don’t have to trek such long distances to and from the colony.