Emperors at Mawson
One of the many drawcards for wintering at Mawson research station is the opportunity to experience the majestic emperor penguin. Standing at over a metre tall and weighing up to 45 kilograms, these are the largest and heaviest of all 18 species of penguins. While being regal and impressive in stature – they are also famous for:
- Being crazy enough to spend all year on the continent, with most colonies located on sea ice locations around Antarctica’s coastline. In doing so, they protect themselves from brutal katabatic winds alongside temperatures below -50° Celsius by using a combination of ‘feathers and fat’ and huddling in tight groups.
- They are the only known penguin to breed during Antarctica’s hostile winter – with the females laying a single egg and then leaving this with the male to incubate (under a ‘brood pouch’, with the egg balanced on the male's feet). Huddling in colonies helps keep these eggs warm.
- The male looks after the egg for a two-month period (losing half its body weight in the process) while the female forages for food. When doing so, these birds can eat up to 6 kilograms in a day - including silverfish, krill and small squid. When she returns (around the time that the colony’s chicks have begun to hatch), the male then leaves to do the same. The parents are kept busy because the chicks need around 40kgs of food from each parent to survive (teenagers aren’t the only 'species' to eat their parents out of house and home!!)
- When foraging for food, emperors can dive to over 500 metres in depth and hold their breath for over 20 minutes.
So, with these fun facts out of the way, our expeditioners have started to head out to see Mawson’s emperors, to support science projects (such as camera works and photographing populations for census statistics) as well as to see these magnificent creatures firsthand.
We have a few locations around Mawson to do this, but Auster colony is definitely the site for recreational visits. Being just over 55km from station means a visit can be achieved in one day. There are visitation policies in place (to minimise human disturbance of these colonies) so most expeditioners come armed with large zoom lenses to take photos from afar. But just like most penguins, emperors can be very curious and inquisitive creatures, with many often deciding to make the small journey from the colony to check things out ‘up close’.
This was certainly the case for our recent visit. Such a humbling and ‘bucket-list’ experience to appreciate the grandeur of this “without-wings-diver’ Aptenodytes forsteri.
Warning in advance – heaps of penguin photos to follow and a special shout-out to Emmett, who is crazy about penguins and will really enjoy this article.
Dave Buller (Station Leader)
