Emperor Penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri, arriving home at about 1am to return to the rookery on the fast ice at Cape Roget, Ross Sea, Antarctica. The Emperor Penguin launches itself out of the water at high speed and lands in a tobogganing position, quickly standing to walk across the ice. This is the closest they get to flying in air, though they are masters of "flying" under water.
The adult penguin is away for about 3 weeks at a time and brings partly digested food back for the chick. They find their chick with sound, each parent and chick knowing each others call. That's pretty amazing since there can be up to 300,000 birds in the rookery. When they find each other the chick chases the parent calling out loudly which encourages the parent to regurgitate the food. During the summer season the chicks are cared for by both parents who go fishing in turn, so the feeds are few but large.
Although not endangered at this stage Emperor Penguins are considered vulnerable to Climate Change, and since 2000 some colonies have experienced difficulties due to changes in the ice and iceberg formation.
