Emperor penguin behaviour is not black and white, say New Zealand scientists
Little is known about adult birds’ behaviour when they leave breeding colonies, but new research has shed some light on their foraging habits
Scientists have made some unexpected discoveries about the frozen continent’s best-known residents: the emperor penguin.
Found only in Antarctica, they’re also the tallest and heaviest penguin species on Earth, growing up to 122cm high, and weighing between 22 and 45kg.
Five years ago, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research scientist Dr Kim Goetz’s research tagged of them and remotely observed them travelling between 273 kilometres and nearly 9000 kilometres, while completing dives that ranged up to a record-breaking 32.2 minutes.
But it was finding the penguins in the first place that was most intriguing.
“Our original goal was to tag breeding penguins at Cape Colbeck after their annual moult at the end of January. But because the voyage was delayed we didn’t get there until early March,” Goetz said.
“We didn’t expect penguins to still be there and thought we would have to locate them on the pack ice which was going to be more difficult.”