as biggest type of all penguins breeds the 120 cm big emperor-penguins at the coasts of the Antarctica in the winter; beside the Adeliepinguinen, it is the birds living widest south.
Emperor-penguins often form large brood-colonies on the pack-ice as well as on the glaciated and snow-covered rock-coasts between 66° and 77° more southern breadths.
Reproduction Emperor-penguins erbrüten its single egg in the antarctic winter (May until September).
From March, they meet at its hatcheries one, that can also be far inland situated. they cover big routes sliding on the stomach with what the heavy birds push off with its fin-wings and feet powerfully so that they there-glide amazingly fast. Approximately beginning of May, the female puts its single egg, 12-13 × 8-9 cm and until 550 g substances!) from and hikes to the open sea back in order to gorge extensively. In the meantime, the male emperor-penguins remain behind on the hatcheries frequently coated by icy storms in order to hatch 62-64 days long the egg.
Immediately, they take the egg on its feet after the storage space and put a wide skin fold of the stomach-region ("brood-bag") over it. If the egg would remain also only one minute long unprotected with the icy environment-temperatures (until - 40 °C), the embryo immediately would have to perish through cooling. Brooding emperor-penguins crowd densely together during the dark polar-night and shift into the protected inside from the edge of the colony on occasion and again back.
The newly slipped boys (end of June of beginning July) are fed with a secretion of the esophagus by its fathers initially, however now (after 60-70 days) come back also the females from the sea and replace its brood-partners, who lost a lot of weight by one third. The matching birds recognize each other by its reputations within the often big brood-communities. Now, the male emperor-penguins come back into the sea, about itself - for the first time after 90-100 days! - to eat powerfully enough.
After 3-4 weeks, they gained its normal-weight again. End of August, they return into the colony and help brown with the Aufzucht of this bedunten squabs (2). Dunenkleid with white head-sides. These meet to big "child-mangers" in the age of 40-50 days. The young emperor-penguins become independently after 4-5 months, at beginning of the antarctic summer, and go into the sea, that offers (fish, Kopffüßer and other small animals) very much food to them at this time.
Molt Against end and in the connection at the brood-period changes the big-penguins for 30-40 days its plumage; they lose on the other hand much weight with since they neither still swim during the molt of course can dive. Hardly any fat-layer got itself the penguins again to the protection against the cold and as food-reserve, already a new brood-cycle begins.
The enemies of the emperor-penguins are sea-leopards and sword-whales, who carry off the birds resting on Treibeisschollen occasionally, by ramming the clod from below with its head ago and shattering or tips over.
Scientific name: