Let's get to know this flightless bird. It is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species. It is found in the Antarctica. The male and female are similar in size, reaching 122 cm in height and weighing between 22 and 45 kg. As you can see here, it has a streamlined body and wings flattened into flippers for a marine habitat.
The Emperor Penguin is best known for the long journeys the adults make each year in order to mate and feed their young. It is the only penguin species that breeds during winter. It treks 50-120 km over the ice to breeding colonies which may include thousands of penguins. The female lays a single egg which is incubated by the male while the female returns to sea to feed. The parents then take turns to look for food and care for their chick in the colony. Its lifespan is normally 20 years in the wild but some of them may live up to 50 years.
View the following video from BBC Earth.
Test Your Science
1. Why do you think the penguin cannot fly?
Find out why birds are toothless in the Young Scientists Issue 110 Level 1.
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