A colony of adult emperor penguins makes a long journey across the floating ice shelves during the onset of winter (between March and April), to their breeding grounds. Here, they quickly find mates and reproduce, staying together for the next 6 weeks until the female lays a single egg. The egg is kept warm by the male while the female returns to sea until the springtime to find food. In the colony, males all huddle together in order to keep themselves and the eggs warm in order to survive. When the females return with food for their young, the chicks hatch and the males head to sea. When the males return, they will feed the young along with the female. When the sea ice breaks apart in the summer, the entire colony makes its way to the sea to find feed. (www.arkive.org)

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Emperor penguins live in colonies along the southern coasts of Antarctica. Birds of the genus Aptenodytes are the heaviest seabirds and the deepest divers, allowing them to forage deeper through the waters of the Antarctic shelf. The emperor penguin is an important top predator in its region. (Cherel and Kooyman 1998)

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The closest relative to the emperor penguin is the king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus). The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest, weighing up to 90 pounds and standing over 1 metre in height. The emperor penguin is also the most iconic, due to its appearance in films such as Happy Feet and March of the Penguins. 

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Young emperor penguins are mostly grey with fluffed feathers. Adults have a distinctive pattern of a black head and back with a white and yellow belly. Adult penguin's feathers lay flat, are well oiled, watertight and tightly packed to hold in heat and provide an effective cover layer. The emperor penguin has small extremities in order to reduce heat loss in its cold climate. (www.arkive.org)

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Emperor penguins inhabit the ice shelves of Antarctica, migrating towards the breeding grounds above during the onset of winter. (www.arkive.org)

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