Emperor Penguin

• As per a new study, up to 10,000 emperor penguin chicks across four colonies in Antarctica’s Bellingshausen Sea may have died as the sea ice underneath their breeding grounds melted and broke apart in late 2022.

ABOUT EMPEROR PENGUIN (APTENODYTES FORSTERI)

• It is the tallest and heaviest of all 18 living penguin species.
• It is endemic to Antarctica.
• The diet primarily consists of fish, but also includes crustaceans and squids. .
• They have two layers of feathers, a good reserve of fat and proportionally smaller beaks and flippers than other penguins to prevent heat loss.
• It is the only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter.
  • They breed and raise their young mostly on ‘fast ice’, a floating platform of frozen ocean which is connected to the land or to ice shelves.
• Approximate population- 600,000
• The lifespan is typically 20 years in the wild, although observations suggest that some individuals may live to 50 years of age.
• IUCN status: Near threatened.