Amazing photos from Antarctica: Penguins exiting water only for mating
Polar scientists told how penguins live in the Antarctic (photo: facebook.com/AntarcticCenter)
Polar scientists of the Akademik Vernadsky station station showed their main neighbors - subantarctic penguins. Each species is special in a different way. During the mating season, you can see up to 5,000 such animals near the station, writes the National Antarctic Scientific Center.
How penguins live in Antarctica
According to experts, penguins spend most of their lives in the water and do not come out onto a solid surface for months.
They come to the ground only to molt and create a family. They can reproduce already at 2 years.
In particular, young penguins have a period of "courtship" before choosing a partner. They arrive at the nesting colony, simulate marital relations, but do not reproduce.
Penguins in the Antarctic (photo: facebook.com/AntarcticCenter)
Do relationships last for life?
After "testing feelings", penguins create pairs, build nests and have offspring. They often keep a partner for life, but there are also cases of separation when a pair lasts for one or more breeding seasons.
Penguins arrive on Galindez Island, where the Akademik Vernadsky station is located, at the beginning of the Antarctic spring.
Males and females swim separately and then search for each other by voice.
Pairs build nests together, but most often males collect and bring stones for this purpose, and females lay them out.
Often, pairs steal "building materials" from each other, which leads to fights.
How penguins breed in the Antarctic (photo: facebook.com/AntarcticCenter)
Who hatches eggs
Usually, two eggs are laid. Chicks hatch after a month. Both eggs and babies are hatched by the couple in turn.
Chicks grow quite quickly and within a month they begin to unite in groups that are supervised by several adult penguins.
The molting process continues - the change of down to feathers, after which the baby learns to swim independently in the ocean.
Polar scientists say that subarctic penguins are social animals. They spend their whole life in a pack, constantly communicating with each other, even at night.
Their main enemies are killer whales, south polar skuas, and leopard seals.
How penguins live in the Antarctic (photo: facebook.com/AntarcticCenter)
Previously, polar explorers showed spectacular shots of green summer in the Antarctic.
We also wrote about a seal that can 'harem' up to 100 females.
