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With stunning photographs from the ice edge, a firsthand account of
a researcher’s time in Antarctica and of the perilous journeys of
the world’s largest penguin species: the iconic emperor. Â
Nearly all emperor penguin colonies are extremely remote; of the
sixty-six known, fewer than thirty have been visited by humans, and
even fewer have been the subject of successful research programs.
One of the largest known emperor penguin colonies is found on a
narrow band of sea ice attached to the Antarctic continent. In
Journeys with Emperors, Gerald L. Kooyman and Jim Mastro take us to
this far-flung colony in the Ross Sea, showing us how scientists
gained access to it, and what they learned while living among the
penguins as they raised their chicks. Â The primary mission
was to record the birds’ activities at sea, and the data revealed
important aspects of emperor penguin behavior and physiology: for
instance, that in the course of hunting for food, some of the
penguins dive to depths of greater than five hundred meters (a
third of a mile, which is deeper than for any other diving bird).
The researchers also discovered that, crucially, most of the
emperor’s life is actually spent at sea, with fledged chicks and
adults making separate, perilous journeys through icy water. When
chick nurturing is complete, the fledglings abandon the colony in
large groups, heading north to the Southern Ocean. The adults leave
at the same time, traveling one thousand kilometers eastward across
the Ross Sea to a sea-ice sanctuary for molting. During this
journey, they must gain enough weight to survive the month-long
molt, when every feather is replaced and the birds cannot enter the
water to feed. After the molt, many if not most return to the
colony to breed once again. For the males, this means another
fast—this time for 120 days as they incubate their eggs. The
nearness of the colony to the ice edge spared the penguins the
long, energy-draining march for which other colonies are
well-known. It also allowed researchers to observe the penguins’
departures to and arrivals from their foraging journeys, as well as
their dangerous interactions with leopard seals and killer whales.
 Featuring original color photographs and complemented with
online videos, Journeys with Emperors is both an eye-opening
overview of the emperor penguin’s life and a thrilling tale of
scientific discovery in one of the most remote, harsh, and
beautiful places on Earth.
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