Emperor penguin (
Credit: Art Wolfe/Science Photo Library
The largest of the 17 penguin species, Emperor penguins are the only animal that spends the winter on the open ice of Antarctica. The females lay a single egg in May or June, and then return to the sea to feed, leaving their mates to incubate the eggs for the next two months. In bitterly cold conditions, the males huddle together in colonies, and keep their egg off the ice by balancing it on their feet. The females return at around hatching time, and regurgitate food for the chick. Only then can the males, who do not eat during the incubation period, leave to feed. By December or January, Antarctic mid-summer, the chicks reach independence. Photographed in Antarctica, the emperor penguin's sole habitat.
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