Antarctica is a disgusting region! Six months of night, the landscape is composed of hard rocks and solid water, and the thermometer shows exceptionally low degrees. And yet, life is in full swing here. Just look at the Adelie penguins, there are almost 8 million of them!
To become such successful creatures, they had to sacrifice a lot. Our heroes have turned into fat waterfowl from thin- bond flyers and have reached up to 70 centimeters tall. Their wings have become an excellent alternative to flippers, and their black and white tuxedo and thick body fat can withstand freezing temperatures up to 60 degrees below zero!
But this does not mean that the bird is so fond of frosty freshness. During the coldest months, the southern bird survives at sea, spending days and nights hunting for fish, krill and numerous jellyfish. The cruising speed of an underwater bird is low, only 8 kilometers per hour, but at short distances it can be doubled.
This acceleration helps in both hunting and rescuing a carcass covered with waterproof feathers. Noticing a killer whale or a leopard seal, the penguin manages to accelerate well and jumps out onto the nearest iceberg. In the place where it can no longer be reached, the predator has to leave in search of an easier prey.
By the beginning of spring (we have autumn), the animals finish eating at sea resorts and return to their favorite beach. Now the penguin is faced with a difficult task: to find its soul mate. Birds in costumes are monogamous, and spotting a familiar beak in a crowd of a quarter of a million is a tormenting job.
If the male does not manage to find its beloved, he will not be discouraged for a long time, but will go to look for the most beautiful and neat pebble. With a beautiful stone in his beak, the male will return to the penguin bazaar and begin to attract the attention of the girls, promising them his loyalty and a very attractive gift.
Sooner or later, one of the girls will fall for his proposal, and they will start building a stone nest for 1-3 eggs. Building a house is a separate important business in the life of the Adelie penguins. There is always not enough material for nests, so the methods of obtaining it are distinguished by rare cynicism. These cute and beautiful creatures steal stones from neighbors at the first convenient opportunity, and many females do not hesitate to trade their bodies for the sake of obtaining other people’s building materials.
Yes, it is cruel and cynical, but the warm season is too short and does not allow playing the role of a noble and honest penguin. You will not have time to lay eggs by the middle of the season, and your children will not be able to grow stronger by the first cold weather. Parent number one frolics in salt water for several weeks, while parent number two lives exceptionally on fat reserves. Well, then they change.
As soon as the kids get stronger, the parents will start sending them to kindergarten. In a crowd and under the supervision of experienced penguins children have the least chance of dying under the blows of petrels’ beaks.
A pot-bellied little thing will grow into an adult skin exactly by the autumn frosts. Young guys will join a huge column of relatives and move to the ocean to spend several difficult, but interesting months in it. If the birds are lucky, they will live like this for 12 years.
