Emperor Penguin

The world’s largest penguin. Males incubate eggs through Antarctic winter at −60 °C, huddling in colonies of thousands.

Surviving the Impossible Winter

The Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the only animal that breeds during the Antarctic winter. After the female lays a single egg, she returns to the sea to feed — leaving the male to balance the egg on his feet, covered by a warm brood pouch, for roughly 65 days without eating.

Males huddle together in groups of thousands, taking turns rotating from the cold outer edge to the warm centre. Each bird loses up to 40% of its body weight by the time the egg hatches.

Size and Appearance

At up to 1.2 metres tall and 40 kg, the Emperor dwarfs every other penguin. Its distinctive yellow-orange auricular patches and pale yellow chest set it apart from the similar King Penguin. The dense, layered plumage — four feather layers compared to most birds’ one — is critical for insulation at temperatures reaching −60 °C with wind chill.

Diet and Diving

Emperors are elite divers. They can:

• Reach depths of over 550 metres
• Hold their breath for more than 20 minutes
• Slow their heart rate to just 15–20 beats per minute underwater

Their diet consists mainly of Antarctic silverfish, squid, and krill, caught in the open ocean during their summer foraging season.

Conservation Status

Classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, Emperor Penguins face an uncertain future. Models project that 70–90% of Emperor colonies could decline sharply or disappear by 2100 if current warming trends continue. Sea ice — essential for breeding — is retreating at an accelerating pace.

“The Emperor Penguin may be one of the first species to be listed as endangered due solely to the effects of climate change.” — BirdLife International

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Where to see them: The most accessible colonies are at Snow Hill Island and Cape Washington in Antarctica, reachable by expedition cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina.