As the summer comes to an end, the emperor penguins are still nowhere near land. They are far out in the moving pack ice spending the summer days fattening themselves on fish, squid, and krill. As autumn bites and their feeding grounds are taken over by ice, they will start one of the most remarkable feeding fasts of any animals. Their round bodies, small feet, flippers, and heads are all heat saving adaptations. They are also the largest penguins standing over a meter; waist high to a person. They also weigh around 40k. the colors around their neck are courtship signals, and their black and white bodies deceives enemies at sea. They are superb hunters, holding their breath for nearly 20 minutes and diving to over 450 meters. So even when the ice starts to cave over their hunting grounds, they are still able to get enough meals in. As march sets in, it becomes harder and harder for the penguins to break the ice. March has come, and temperatures can drop below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. So, with their biological clocks counting down to mating, the emperor penguins finally start their long trek, hundreds of kilometers into the frozen wasteland. Putting the summer behind them, they must now begin to merge onto preparing for the next summer. Using navigation systems still unknown to scientists, the penguins travel hundreds of kilometers to converge at cape Crozier. There breeding cycle is a month later then penguins further north, where it is lighter and warmer. Built for swimming, their most efficient method of travel on ice is to slide on their bellies. They travel so far to find stable ice, which won’t be broken up by storms. However, it’s still a deadly place, a deadly wind blasted, blizzard raging place. To think, at the same time, the emperor penguins choose this place to breed too!

Like other birds penguins shed their worn – out feathers and grow new ones each year. The rigors of breeding and constant preening, subject a bird’s plumage to considerable wear and tear. Feather must be replaced each year – usually after the nesting season.

This process is called molting. For many birds, molting happens slowly. It may even be hard to notice that they are molting.

Molting is a big problem for penguins, however, when they lose their feathers, they lose their waterproof protection. They can not go in the water to feed until new feathers have grown in.
Before molting, penguins swim out to sea and eat as much as they can. Then they wait.

Soon the penguins’ old feathers start falling out in clumps. Molting take place gradually over several weeks so that the bird retains sufficient feathering to keep warm. However, penguins lose their waterproofing so they must stay ashore until the molt is complete. During that time, the penguins do not eat at all. By the time their new feathers have grown in, the birds have lost half their body weight.

During the year the feathers become badly worn by so much swimming and diving in the salt sea water, by countless leaps ashore and back into the water, by sliding games on the ice, by wind and sun, rain and snow. Before nest winter comes, the plumage must be warm, thick and smooth again. So now, in summertime, the old feathers fall out in bunches, and underneath, the spotless, shining new feather suit is already growing. In this feather- growing period, which takes two to three weeks, the “non – breeders’ simply stand around, doing nothing. They can not go out in search of food until their new coats are watertight, or they would freeze to death in the icy water.

Penguins lose all of its feathers and replace it once a year.

Chicks in the process of shedding their coats of down to reveal the adult plumage. This occurs by January, just after midsummer, when they leave the rookeries to fend for themselves.

Penguins live in groups for one main reason – there is safety in numbers. A group of penguins is more likely to spot a lurking predator than a lone bird is. An individual penguin fleeing a predator as part of a group is less likely to get caught than it would be if it was swimming alone.

Penguins often establish their colonies on the coast so they do not have to travel a long way from the sea with food for the chicks.

Penguins breed in colonies because it gives their chicks a better chance of survival. Penguin groups have no real social structure. In many ways they are like shoals of fish _ every bird is equal, and there are no leaders. But unlike fish, penguins have times when they need their own space. Penguin nesting colonies are almost out of pecking reach of one another.

Penguins live in groups for more protection from predators. Male emperor penguin huddles together during the freezing Antarctica winter to keep themselves warm.

Colonies become huge crèches when the chicks hatch.