Parents still feeding chicks have to make a decision as to how long they are going to continue to look after the little one. If they leave the chick too early and it has not got enough energy reserves to finish the moult it will die and the parents have wasted an entire breeding season. However, if they continue feeding the chick for too long, they may compromise their own ability to feed and fatten up for their moult.
Adults have to almost double their body mass before the moult. When they start shedding their old feathers their plumage is no longer waterproof and they cannot go to sea and feed.
So for the month that it takes to replace the old feathers they depend solely on the body fat that they accumulate after leaving their chick and before they start to moult.
It is not necessary for the penguins to return to the colony to grow their new plumage. While some birds do return, others travel great distances and find themselves a place where they can sit on the ice and moult.
As long as they can stay out of the water it does not matter where they haul out. Replacing every single feather is energetically very expensive. By the time the new plumage has grown the penguins have lost nearly half their body mass.
In January and February the emperor penguins return to sea to fatten again in preparation for the next breeding season. Why live in Antarctica? How many people? Hatching When the females finally return to the colony in July the males have lost nearly half their body mass and look quite skinny. Raising the chicks During the chick rearing period there is a lot of activity in the colony — parents coming and going, chicks looking for anybody willing to feed them — there is a lot of walking around and calling.
A tough choice Parents still feeding chicks have to make a decision as to how long they are going to continue to look after the little one. The end of the cycle It is not necessary for the penguins to return to the colony to grow their new plumage. Photo gallery See all. During April and May, they spend large amounts of time at sea feeding in preparation for the next nesting season.
The penguins lay their eggs between July and October. They usually lay a single clutch of two eggs, but occasionally lay two clutches. Eggs are incubated for about 40 days. Chicks hatch between September and December. After the chicks hatch, both parents care for them, remaining at their side until they are about 3 weeks old. The parents continue to attend to their chicks until they are fully grown at 8 weeks, making many trips back and forth to the ocean to bring back food.
Once their chicks are independent, the penguins return to sea to stock up on food before moulting. Little Penguins moult for weeks. During this time they cannot swim, making them particularly vulnerable to dogs, cats, and stoats. The penguins must also fast while moulting because they are unable to go to sea and hunt. In preparation, from December to February, adult penguins double their body weight. We need people like you to support us, so that nature will always have a voice.
Back to top. Registration No. Skip to main content. Search form Search Search. Enter the terms you wish to search for. Breeding usually takes place during the Antarctic summer October through February , though some species do mate in the winter. Males arrive at the colony first and choose their spot to wait for prospective mates. When the females arrive, sometimes a few weeks later, they go right back to their mates from the previous year. A female will check out the quality of her old flame's nest by inspecting it, getting in it and lying down.
She will do the same for neighboring nests, though this can sometimes lead to trouble. For species that don't build nests and even some that do , song quality is very important.
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