Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Thousands of penguins return to their colonies to breed


IT’S easy for the mums to pick out a penguin in this colony – because they know how to make the right noises.
Many of the 200,000 king penguins will be searching for their chicks and partners among the sea of black and white after returning home to breed.
With so many of the birds in one place you would think the adults would find it impossible to locate their young.
But each family has a unique begging call meaning their offspring are able to stand out from the crowd.
More than 50,000 new chicks a year hatch at the king penguin colony at South Georgia in the South Atlantic.
Last year’s chicks would have hatched in April and will not be self-sufficient until they are eleven months old. They can go on to grow to 3ft tall.
Photographer Michael Poliza said: “Nothing can prepare you for opening your eyes and seeing hundreds of thousands of penguins right in front of you for as far as you can see.”

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