this dot on the north west coast is one
of them an
emperor penguin colony
the world’s most grueling winter is on
its way
so how have the emperors prepared for it
by starting new families
they’ve caught it and mated and the eggs
are laid
one per bear
[Music]
the mothers won’t root it though the
father will
and one of the most precarious parts of
the whole process
is the handover
too many seconds on the ice and the egg
will freeze
so it’s quickly onto the father’s feet
and snuggled under a fold of skin
the mothers need to go to sea producing
such a big egg
has taken a lot out of them they have to
eat now
and they’ll be back in the spring
[Music]
after a short hike they reach a break in
the ice take a gulp of air
and enter the element where they’re most
at home
as for the fathers they get a lingering
sunset
it’s the last sunshine they’ll see for
more than two months
and the end of the last iota of warmth
[Music]
now they have darkness savage winds
nothing to eat and nothing to do but
take their turn at the edge of the
huddle
and shuffle along on their heels as they
keep their eggs off the ice
there is no sun but they may get some
comfort from the moon and the stars and
the dancing southern lights
there’s an inner comfort too the
instinctive confidence that the son will
return
and with it their mates
further north other penguins have other
concerns
if there are no islands around they try
to board icebergs
these are chin strap penguins they
and the other small penguins won’t
return to antarctica until spring
their time to breed
[Music]
icy footholds are irrelevant of course
to birds that fly
storm petrols and fairy prions can
simply rest on the unremitting southern
winds
a wandering albatross rides the gale
there are a few battered islands
including south georgia
[Music]
the second largest penguins the kings
breed here
the chicks have already hatched and they
huddled together
waiting for their parents to bring them
some food
they’re kept warm by thick downy coats
someone like their eventual adult
feathers
but the first explorers here thought
they were a new species
the woolly penguin
sometimes a king penguin parent will
turn up with food
but these chicks than the albatross
chicks generally do without
this young albatross high up on a cliff
has been alone and unfed for three
months now
while its parents travel the southern
seas
[Music]
[Applause]
you
