Emperor+Penguin


 * Title: Emperor Penguin**

Species Name: //Aptenodytes forsteri//
 * Basic Information:**

Photograph: __Caption__: Three adult emperor penguins gathered close in the Antartic. In times of colder weather, they gather close together for warmth and keep a lookout for each other.

** Scientific Classification: **

 * Domain || Eukarya ||
 * Kingdom || Animalia ||
 * Phylum || Chordata ||
 * Class || Aves ||
 * Order || Sphenisciformes ||
 * Family || Spheniscidae ||
 * Genus || //Aptenodytes// ||
 * Species || //Aptenodytes forsteri// ||

Habitat:
The emperor penguin has a circumpolar distribution in the Antarctic region estimated about between the 66° and 77° latitudes in the Southern hemisphere. Its breeding grounds are located on stable ice near the Antarctic coastline off to 11mi. offshore. Penguins generally live on islands and remote continental regions away from land predators, such as polar bears, where their inability to fly does not harm their survival. Emperor penguins are well suited to living in the sea, considering that most spend about 75% of their lives under the sea. In the Antarctic region, it is estimated that the emperor penguin's population is 400,000-450,000, distributed among the 400,000 different Antarctic colonies. The emperor penguins are usually found near nutrient-rich, cold-water currents that provide an abundant supply of food to keep them healthy and living. The flora present in this habitat include a distinct community of vascular plants which evolved millions of years ago, but due to such cold weather conditions, mostly smal amounts of lichens, mosses,liverworts, Antarctic pearlwort, and Antarctic hair grass. The Emperor Penguin thrives in an environment that is well below zero and full of thinning ice and glaciers that make it difficult for these penguins to just situated in one spot.

__Caption__: This is the region where the Emperor Penguin thrives in the Antarctic. The red areas are where the Emperor Penguin lives, while the reen area is where they actually breed. As seen from the graphic, these penguins stay quite close to the coast of Antarctica and the surrounding waters that encircle the continent.. They seldom roam into the center of Antarctica.

Physiology:
The male and female Emperor Penguins are similar in plumage, or feathers, and size, reaching 48 in height and their weight ranging from 49-99 pounds. The dorsal side and head are black and sharply traced in outline from the white belly, and they have pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches. Like all penguins it is flightless, with a streamlined body, and wings stiff and flattened into flippers for a marine habitat, making it a versatile swimmer, although it also spends some time on land. When invloved in hunting, its respiratory system allows to be submerged underwater for up to 18 minutes before it has to come up for air, giving it more than enough time tio kill the necessary prey and be able to maintain itself and its family.. The adaptations that allow its swimming underwater include an unusually structured hemoglobin to allow it to function at low oxygen levels, solid bones to reduce barotrauma, which is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between an air space inside or beside the body and the surrounding fluid, and then there is the ability to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions while underwater. Concerning its plumage (also known as feathers), the emperor penguin's feathers provide 80–90% of its insulation, and it has a layer of sub-dermal fat that keeps it even more warm, such as when submerged underwater in the cold Antarctic waters. The Emperor Penguin is able to thermoregulate, which means its able to maintain its core body temperature without changing its metabolism, over a wide range of temperatures. This thermoregulating body temperature change extends from anywhere to14 to 68 °F. __Caption__: A Close view at the special plumage of the Emperor Penguin. It provides sub-dermal fat for increased insulation in the harsh Antarctic environment. On average, it has about 15 feathers per centimeter, and they're responsible for about anywhere from 80-905 of the Emperor Penguin's insulation. It is known to have the highest feather density of any bird.

Species Interactions:
Species interactions that the Emperor Penguin has are with Weddell Seals, whom are the the only other predators that coexist as such southern Antarctic latitudes. This creates competition between the Emperor Penguin and the Weddell Seals with whom the Emperor Penguins then have to compete for prey in the Antarctic waters such as crustaceans and Glacial squid to name a few, and overall marked hunting territory underwater. Tension arises in terms of competition when the mating grounds or potentially hunting habits of these two species overlap. There have been studies that show that Weddell seals foraging patterns to the environmental conditions amongst the Emperor Penguin population suggests that the food availability, primarily the crustacean and fish species, between the two in such conditions has the potential to impact the predator population. With competition for food also comes potential predation at times towards the Emperor Penguin by the Weddell Seals. The Weddell Seals will at times attack nearby Emperor Penguins if they feel they trespass their hunting territories, or if they simply see lone Emperor Penguins unguarded. The Emperor Penguin, on the other hand, does not look to attack the Weddell Seal at all and looks to keep its distance. However, the Emperor Penguin has the defensive adaptation of moving in large groups while on land, and also underwater, as families, so it is rare to see lone penguins open for attack.Studies have shown that the Emperor Penguin has begun to seperate from the Weddell Seals more and more and have started forming territories elsewhere on the Antarctic.

Reproduction:
The Emperor Penguin is able to breed at around three years of age, and often starts breeding around 1-3 years later. 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 anywhere from 31-75 miles inland from the edge of the pack ice. The start of travel appears to be initiated due to decreasing day lengths. A lone male gives off a flashy display display, where it stands still and places its head on its chest before inhaling and giving a courtship call for 1–2 seconds. After it does the call it then moves around the colony and repeats the call. A male and female then stand face to face, with one extending its head and neck up and the other copying it, and then they they both hold this posture for several minutes. Once in the male and female penguin are paired together, couples waddle around the colony together, with the female usually following the male. Before the copulation process, one bird bows deeply to its mate, its bill pointed close to the ground, and its mate then does the same. Later on when the egg arrives, it weighs about 1 pound and has a relatively thick shell that prevents easy breakage of the egg. After laying, the mother and her nutritional reserves are very much worn out, so she very carefully transfers the egg to the male, before immediately returning to the sea for two months to feed. The transfer of the egg can actually be difficult, and many couples drop the egg in the process. Hatching can take anywhere from 2-3 days, and once hatched, the young emperor penguin is incubated in the brood pouch of the male until the emale penguin returns to care and feed it.

__Caption__: This is arepresentation of what the Emperor Penguin life cycle consists of, in matters of steps. After mating the male incubates the egg while the females go off to feed, then the females return upon the egg's hating to feed and care for the young. The chicks then all join together for extra warmth while the males go off into the ocean to repeat the cycle. The cycle is studied to repeat itself 6 more times after the initial one.

Free Topic: March of the Penguins
The scientific documentary released in 2008 "March of the Penguins" showed the life cycle of the Emperor Penguin in a close up experience like never before. In this documentary, one witnesses the cruel winters that these birds face, and how very surprisingly, they are able to survive winter in and winter out by staying in large groups huddled close together to obtain as much heat possible. This movie lets you observe the life of the Emperor Penguin, starting from when the parents mate and the female lays the egg, then to the development of the chick into an adult and its travels through the Antarctic ice and its predators, all the way to the penguin's underwater life and way back into the cycle to where it was born and rewriting what its parents did. However, this documentary also allows you to witness how due to problems such as global warming, and in some Antarctic regions, the prolongation of Antarctic blizzards, that the numbers of these birds are slowly decreasing and how human intervention to the environment is affecting, in a way, the lifestyle of these creatures. Scientists, as the movie showed, have gone south to study the pressures these birds face and try to help the cause, but ultimately as the video concerns, it is up to mankind to do a better job of taking care of the planet so that creatures like the Emperor Penguin do not go extinct. This documentary is excellent in portraying an up close visualization of how it is the penguins live and interarct with each other, that from a time before, had not been done in such a extraordinary fashion.

Works Cited:
"National Geographic: Emperor Penguin" __National Geographic__. 2011. Mar 30, 2011. []

"Facts and Information about Penguins". __Copyscape.__ 2009. Mar. 30, 2011. []

"Kooyman, Gerald". "__Pioneering Science on the Frozen Frontier"__ Scripps Institution of Ocanography. 2010. Mar. 31 2010. .[]