Emperor+penguin+2

Animal: Animal Group:
 * __**Classification**__

Description of animal group: || Emperor Penguin

Aptenodytes forsteri

The **Emperor Penguin** (//Aptenodytes forsteri//) is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching 122 cm (48 in) in height and weighing anywhere from 22–37 kg (48–82 lb). The dorsal parts are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches. Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine lifestyle.

====Emperor penguins are the largest of all the penguins. They live and breed at the beginning of winter, on the fast ice all around the Antarctic continent. The total population is estimated to be about 200,000 breeding pairs. Emperor penguins can mate when they are 4 years old and can live to be 20 years of age.==== || Observation Describe your animal (Colour, size, body parts) || The dorsal parts are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches. Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine lifestyle.
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 * __**Description**__

The emperor's arteries and veins lie close together so that blood is pre-cooled on the way to the bird's feet, wings and bill and warmed on the way back to the heart. Emperor's feet are adapted to the icy conditions, since they have strong claws for gripping the ice. || Describe how your animal behaves (moves, flies, runs) || Emperors are the deepest divers of any bird. They often dive to about 250m and dives last on average 3-6 minutes. They seem clumsy on land but when they are in water, their shape gives them great agility. They are also very strong birds and their strength and agility make them very effective predators.
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 * **__Movement:__**

Emperor penguins are exquisite divers! While they mostly forage at depths from 150 to 250 meters the deepest dive recorded was to 565 meters. On average dives last 3 to 6 minutes but the longest dive on record was 22 minutes. || Where it lives || They live and breed at the beginning of winter, on the fast ice all around the Antarctic continent.
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 * **__Habitat:__**

They do not build nests or defend a fixed territory, using their warm bodies instead to incubate and raise their young. This unique breeding behavior--Emperors are the only Antarctic bird that breeds in winter || What it eats How it eats || Unlike most penguins, which feed on surface krill, Emperor penguins live on fish, squid, and crustaceans caught on long, deep pursuit dives.
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 * **__Feeding Habits:__**

Fish form the bulk of its diet, which can include crustaceans, such as krill, and cephalopods, such as squid. In hunting, the species can remain submerged up to 18 minutes, diving to a depth of 535 m (1,755 ft). It has several adaptations to facilitate this, including an unusually structured haemoglobin to allow it to function at low oxygen levels, solid bones to reduce barotrauma, and the ability to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions. || How does it have babies? How does it care for its babies? How long do they live? || The Emperor Penguin is able to breed at around three years of age, and usually commences breeding around one to three years later.[11] The yearly reproductive cycle begins at the start of the Antarctic winter, in March and April, when all mature Emperor Penguins travel to colonial nesting areas, often walking 50 to 120 km (30 to 75 mi) inland from the edge of the pack ice.[50] The start of travel appears to be triggered by decreasing day lengths; Emperor Penguins in captivity have been induced successfully into breeding by using lighting systems mimicking seasonal Antarctic day lengths.[51]
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 * **__Breeding Habits:__**

Because there are no nesting materials, emperor penguins incubate the single egg on their feet. In relation to the body size of the female the egg is rather small; it weighs only about 450 grams. Only the males incubate the egg while the females return to sea for the roughly 65 days it takes for the egg to hatch. While incubating the males cannot go and feed themselves. By the time the chicks hatch the males have fasted for about 4 months (two months during courtship and two months during incubation). The chicks are virtually naked when they hatch and die within minutes if accidentally dropped onto the ice. The parents brood the youngsters on their feet for about 50 days. || What does it do during the day and night? || Most Emperor penguin colonies are located on the fast ice, i.e. frozen sea-ice. That is not the same as an ice-shelf. Ice-shelves occur at the end of glacier as they are flowing into the ocean. Ice-shelves are freshwater ice. Only two colonies are known on land.
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 * **__Activity:__**

At fledging, young emperor penguins radiate far from the waters near their colonies. They can reach the sub-Antarctic waters up to 12 degrees latitude away from their natal sites. || How has it changed over time in Antarctica? || Emperors are the only Antarctic bird that breeds in winter--may have developed to allow chicks to grow to independence at a time when food is most plentiful and predators are few.
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 * **Adaptations:**

Emperors live in the coldest climate on earth. Temperatures can drop as low as -140 degrees Fahrenheit (-60 degrees Celsius) on the Antarctic ice. || The primary aquatic predators are both mammals: the Leopard Seal (//Hydrurga leptonyx//), which takes some adult birds, as well as fledglings soon after they enter the water,[23] and the Orca (//Orcinus orca//), which takes adult birds.[49]
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 * **Threats:** || The Emperor Penguin's predators include birds and aquatic mammals; the Southern Giant Petrel (//Macronectes giganteus//) is the predominant avian predator, responsible for up to 34% of chick deaths in some colonies. The South Polar Skua (//Stercorarius maccormicki//) mainly scavenges for dead chicks, as the live chicks are too large to be attacked by the time of its annual arrival in the colony.[48]

Leopard seals use their powerful jaws and long teeth to kill smaller seals, fish, and squid.

These effective predators live in frigid Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters, where they also eat penguins. They often wait underwater near an ice shelf and snare the birds just as they enter the water after jumping off the ice. They may also come up beneath seabirds resting on the water surface and snatch them in their jaws. || * **The Emperor penguin is the world's largest penguin.** Type in the content of your page here.
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 * **Other Facts:** || Did you know?
 * **The Emperor penguin lays its single egg during the coldest time of the year, when temperatures drop to as low as -80° F ****and winds reach velocities of up to 112 miles per hour.**
 * **Emperors have by far the deepest and longest dives for any bird. They often reach depths of 700 feet, and can stay submerged for up to 18minutes.**
 * **Emperors are insulated in part by a dense network of feathers - about 70 feathers per square inch** ||
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