The Emperor Penguin's Antarctic Huddle

Did you know emperor penguins, the largest of all penguins (almost four feet tall) live on the Antarctic, where wind chills are close to -80F? How these birds survive such harsh conditions is a story in itself. The penguins cluster to form a ‘huddle’ to conserve body heat. Once the penguins inside the huddle get warm, they switch positions with the penguins outside, so they can all be warm and protected from the harsh environment of the Antarctic. Once again, see the best images and stories from National Geographic here and here.

Not only do the emperor penguins live on the Antarctic, but breed and raise their young there. They hatch the eggs, believe it or not, in winter! The mama lays a single egg, hands it over to the papa, and then goes away. The papas keep their eggs warm, not by sitting on them (as most birds do) but by carrying them on their feet and under their pouch. For two months! On the Antarctic ice, in winter, in the most bitter cold conditions! The emperor penguin papas get the gold medal for being the most amazing dads EVER! See this amazing BBC video narrated by Sir David Attenborough for the most astonishing detail. There is no better way to get to know them.

Once the mama returns, with her stomach full of fish, she takes over the baby from the father to feed the chick, who has been hungry all this while. Now the papa can feed himself but he must travel a hundred miles or more across the ice and snow to get to the sea. We wrote this story because what the emperor penguins do simply blows our minds away.Can you imagine? Hatching a chick in the dead of winter? Where it's cold and dark with blizzard conditions and nothing to eat? Emperor penguins are awesome. Just. The. Best.

An emperor penguin chick in the Antarctic decided he was ready to hatch. He was ready to step out of his egg into the big, wide world. “Hello?” he said, from inside his egg. “Anybody out there?”

“Stay inside,” a deep voice said. "It’s minus 50 degrees Celsius! With 100 miles an hour wind!"

"Who is this?" the chick asked.

"This is your Dad.”

"Where is my Mom?"

"She went out for a bite."

"I want a bite too!" the chick said, sticking his head out.

"It's winter in the Antarctic," the papa penguin said. "There's no sun. No food. You stay inside until your mother returns."

But the winds were so fierce, the chick couldn't hear him. "What?" the chick said, hopping out.

"You are an emperor penguin," the papa penguin said. "We huddle in groups. We stay very close to keep each other warm... else we freeze to death... now get back inside."

"What's a huddle?” the chick said. “Whee, Daddy! Look! I’m in the air!"

“What?” the papa emperor penguin said.

"Look at me!" the chick said, its voice faint. "I'm flying!"

"You're being BLOWN away?" the papa penguin said, petrified. "Oh. My. God! HEEELP!"

"What?" the other penguins said. "Did you say something? We can't hear you over the wind."

"MY BOY!" the papa penguin said. "HE'S AIRBORNE! WE HAVE TO FIND HIM! PLEASE!"

But the papa penguins had eggs in their pouches, above their feet, that they were hatching.

"How?" the papa penguins asked. "We MUST be in our huddle and we are carrying eggs."

"We'll stay in the huddle!" the papa penguin declared. "And the HUDDLE will search!"

The emperor penguins did as the papa emperor penguin said. The penguins in the outer circle, who were cold, moved in to warm up, while the warm penguins in the inner circle moved out. The penguins maintained the warmth in the huddle and moved in a giant circle, searching until...

"Daddy!" the chick said, chattering. "Is that y-y-y-you?"

"Now!" the papa penguin said. "Get back in and stay there until your mother brings us breakfast."

The emperor penguin chick scrambled inside his papa's pouch without a word.

"I'm never going out of my huddle again," the chick said. "Never. Ever. Ever."

Moral of the Story:

If it's cold, be an emperor penguin. Snuggle with your huddle.