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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing emperor penguins. What better to celebrate our 100th episode here on AFF than covering one of our own favorite animals. We’ll leave it up to you guys to guess which of us prefers these penguins. Emperor penguins are the largest of the seventeen penguin species, and they’re the only animals we know of that breed during some of the coldest winters on earth. Most people are family with the “march” these penguins perform thanks to a highly acclaimed documentary released in 200-- wait, what? 2005?? Man, I’m getting old! That documentary focused mainly on one specific colony, but there are more than 40 emperor penguin colonies that we know of, and they don’t all act the same. According to observations, some colonies don’t live as far from water as the colony featured in March of the Penguins, so the penguin dads don’t have to go as long without eating. There are also some colonies who don’t utilize natural cliff formations to help buffer weather conditions during the winter, which means that penguin dads are even more coldproof than we thought!

Emperor penguins have to brave these harsh winter conditions for their offspring. If they laid their eggs during any other part of the year, their chicks would not be appropriately developed to start feasting during the antarctic summer. For as much dedication the emperor penguin parents provide, however, once a baby is old enough to survive on its own, the parents leave. The baby emperor penguins will take their first dives into the ocean once all of their downy baby feathers have molted, and they won’t return to breed for approximately five years. When they are ready to breed, emperor penguins find mates by singing. Even in a crowd of more than 10,000 they have individual voices! Their voices are so distinct that some studies have shown that, after returning to breeding ground a year later, nearly 15% of couples find each other again! That’s kind of romantic... In the wild, emperor penguins can live up to 20 years, and in captivity they can live to be as old as 50!

Emperor penguins are at their most vulnerable during their first year of life. A dropped egg can perish due to freezing in mere minutes, and young chicks fall victim to large antarctic birds such as skua. Adult emperor penguins are preyed upon by orcas and leopard seals, however, they’re adept swimmers and have even been named the deepest diving birds. Emperor penguins have been recorded diving nearly 2,000 feet (609.6m) in search of food, though closer to 500 feet (152.4m) is more common. Their diets change throughout the year just based on what is most available at any given time. They tend to take smaller prey items as these take less time to metabolize. If you think about it, the food they eat is pretty dang cold, so they actually have to warm it up within their bodies in order to complete digestion, and smaller bites take less time to warm up!

Of all the penguin species, only two have been observed living on the antarctic continent proper: Adélie penguins and emperor penguins. All of the emperor penguin breeding colonies are found along the coast of Antarctica which is warmer than the interior of the landmass - “warm” being a relative term here. Emperor penguins need to live near the coast because their food sources all come from the ocean. It’s been postulated that global warming could be affecting these birds and other species of antarctic animals. As it stands, there are thought to be more than half a million emperor penguins sharing the planet with us!

For more facts on emperor penguins, check out the links in the description. Tell us your thoughts on these giant birds in the comments. Thank you to everyone for supporting us to our 100th episode, and here’s to working on 100 more Animal Fact Files.