Big Bird Facts about the fabulous emperor penguin and the wonderful view from the Dog Room at Mawson.

Big bird facts

Emperor penguins are the biggest of all penguins.

Emperors are so big they have to mate at the beginning of winter as there is not enough time in the short Antarctic summer for the chicks to grow into sea-going adults.

The females then return to the sea, leaving the eggs with the males who hold them on top of their feet to keep them off the ice.

The male Emperors cannot feed for four months. All they can do while waiting for the females to return is endure the most demanding of conditions on earth and maybe watch the southern lights. Then the females will return allowing the males to venture to the sea for a feed.

Emperor penguins in a group, ice in the background
Two emperor penguins touch their beaks together
Two emperor penguins, each with a chick tucked ebtween heir feet, like they are chatting about their children.
An emperor penguin bends down to check the chick snuggled between its feet
Emperor penguin, with one close and showing the white chest and black beak and chin.
Emperor penguin stares at the camera, with a threatening beack

The Dog Room

The “Dog Room” is situated at the northern end of the top floor of the Red Shed, apart from being filled with the history, photographs and artifacts from the sledding days, its best feature, in my opinion, is the view. There are not many (if any) places inside a building that offer anything near as magnificent. It is the perfect place to sit and relax and take in the ever changing scenery that is Mawson.

Entirely white photo that is all that can be seen during a white out.
Mawson Red Shed a night with the lower windows lit up.
Complete black
The view of the Mawson buildings from the Dog Room with a pale sun on the horizon
Mawson view from dog room — frozen sea and islands
Mawson as seen fro the from Dog Room with a shaft of bright light illuminating some of the buildings
Mawson view of the buildings, including a big red one
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